'Wind Phones' Are Popping Up All Over The World, But They're Not What You Think

Public telephones have become something of a rare sight around the world, with smartphones having replaced a lot of traditional essentials. The wind phone, while it has a strikingly similar appearance to old payphones (a piece of technology rendered obsolete by smartphones), is something very different. It's typically not actually functional or connected to anything that lets you call out, but the idea behind the installations is beautifully touching.

Monty Stewart, once of the Parks Commission where a new wind phone had been erected, told the Federal Way Mirror, "The idea was to have a place of solace where people could communicate with their loved ones that had passed in a secluded and private place just as all of the other wind phone installations in America and Europe have done." Mourning a lost loved one is a process. It's deeply personal, and there's no right or wrong way to grieve.

It can be helpful for many, though, to continue speaking with a loved one after they've passed away, whether at a grave, through the written word, or even through the increasingly popular wind phone. However, this is not simply an American and European phenomenon. The wind phone movement has spread across the world, touching countless hearts, bringing solace, and causing pause for thought.

Loss and grief are some of the most painful parts of the human experience, but they are also universal experiences. We share, we lean on each other when we can, and we negotiate a loss together. At the same time, though, there are aspects of the experience that are very personal. As we remember the good times with a loved one who has passed away, we might also regret the things that we didn't get to do, the things that we didn't say. The wind phone was introduced as a means of doing just that, in the hope that there's some comfort in the act. 

In 2017, Bloomberg told the story of Itaru Sasaki, a resident of Japan's town of Otsuchi. Sasaki had lost his cousin and felt a desperate need to continue to connect with them, which led to his decision to add a unique artistic touch to their yard: a telephone booth. It was moved there in 2010, and the outlet notes that Sasaki explained his choice to NHK Sendai. He said that he felt he didn't have an outlet for everything he had wanted to say to his cousin, everything he felt about his loss, and so "I wanted [my feelings] to be carried on the wind." 

The year after the phone's installation, Otsuchi was devastated by a tsunami. In its wake, locals and visitors from further afield went to the wind phone, or kaze no denwa, to speak to their loved ones who have passed away just as Sasaki did. 

The Otsuchi site has since received thousands of visitors, becoming something of a landmark. In 2020, Japanese filmmaker Nobuhiro Suwa made a movie, "Kaze no Denwa," centered around a teenager returning to Otsuchi after almost a decade away and finding solace there amidst the hard work of rebuilding the town. The director told the Hollywood Reporter, "Going there eight years later, you can't see much of the damage, it has been rebuilt. But people's feelings have not been fixed." Of course, "fixing" feelings is easier said than done, but perhaps the most important thing is that we simply allow ourselves to express them and have a peaceful and appropriate place in which to do so.

A wind phone may be the perfect example of that, thus they're becoming more plentiful around the world. Mother of three, Amy Dawson, created My Wind Phone in the wake of her youngest daughter's, Emily, tragic death in April 2020. On the website, users can find an interactive map of wind phones for either the U.S. an international map.

As of this writing, the website lists 363 wind phones in the U.S. and 159 internationally, with an additional nine coming soon. The map shows wind phones that are accessible to the public, with the caveat that some may have been moved or access has been changed. Amy Dawson notes that cataloging these locations is what she considers "a calling that Emily guided me to." There can be no doubt that many have surely found the wind phones mapped out on the website, and perhaps paused for a time to talk, reflect, and remember.