Phone of the Wind

[93Regina]

In a garden in Ōtsuchi, in the Iwate prefecture on Japan’s east coast, stands an inoperative phone booth that’s nonetheless been used by more than 10,000 people since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed 15,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more. The booth, known as the “Kaze no Denwa Box,” or Phone Booth of the Winds, was built by 69-year-old Itaru Sasaki so that local residents could communicate with loved ones who are dead or missing. Sasaki never connected the line, but callers still use the phone to speak to the departed, or write messages on a notepad, trusting that the wind will carry them to their intended recipients.



Old ladies who had lost their husband come there to give daily updates of what they do. And few of them don’t even talk a word but just sigh trying to hold their tears. There were teenage boys who didn’t understand what happened to their father came to terms with loss in the phone booth. I expected them all to tell one thing. But they didn’t.

[precopster]

Thank YOU!!