Wind Phone
The Wind is a gift to us that travels between the physical realm and the spiritual realm, carrying conversations between the living and the dead.
A concept that originated in Japan, a Wind Phone is an unconnected phone set up in a serene location, where people can come to "communicate" with loved ones who have passed away. The idea is that the wind carries their voices to the deceased, providing a private space for individuals to express their feelings, thoughts, and missed conversations.
Created by Itaru Sasaki in 2010 in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, it first served as a personal bridge to his late cousin. After the 2011 Japan tsunami and earthquake causing hundreds of thousands sudden losses, locals turned to his Wind Phone. Nestled in a glass-paneled booth, the black rotary phone on a wooden table offers a profound tool for healing, closure, and feeling close to those who've passed.
This concept has inspired similar memorials worldwide, touching the universal spirit of remembrance and coping with loss.
Nestled in Oak Creek Canyon, sedona, Arizona
Location: Your Heart's Home Retreat Sanctuary
Sacred grounds offering A green burial and center for holistic practitioners to hold space.
Original Wind Telephone located in ōtsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan
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In 2010, Itaru Sasaki, a garden designer from Ōtsuchi, learned that his cousin had terminal cancer with three months to live. After his cousin's death, Sasaki set up an old telephone booth in his garden in December 2010, to continue to feel connected to him by "talking" to him on the phone. According to Sasaki, the wind phone was not designed with any specific religious connotation, but rather as a way to reflect on his loss. In an interview, he stated: "Because my thoughts couldn't be relayed over a regular phone line, I wanted them to be carried on the wind."