風の電話で始めました。

Kaze no denwa de hajimemashita - it started with the wind telephone.

Erected in late 2010 by garden designer Sasaki Itaru to continue his relationship with his cousin who died of gastric cancer, it became a beacon to his community in the wake of the 11 March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and its resultant tsunami which devastated his seaside town of Otsuchi, a place that lost one in ten citizens to the waves. Locals began to trickle into his garden to use the phone, and soon word spread so far that people began to make pilgrimages from other countries and continents.

Now the idea has spread from Japan to parks, front yards, plazas, and cemeteries across the world.

You may already have a wind telephone close to you - definitely give the website My Wind Phone a look to see! If not, you may consider building your own phone whether it be permanent or temporary, simple or complex, modern or classic. This website will have examples of wind telephones from across the world so you can see how easy establishing one can be!

One theory that makes wind telephones so approachable is that of continuing bonds with the dead. As this website grows, there will be more in-depth information about this topic and others that are adjacent to wind telephones. The blog is going to be broader with posts on a wide array of thanatological - the study of death, dying, and bereavement - topics. Please keep checking back!