The Story
Everything begins with one person, one old telephone, and words he still wants to say. A deeply personal idea that, over time, finds its way to people around the world.
love
- 2010 · Otsuchi, Japan
The need to pick up the receiver
In 2010, Itaru Sasaki lost his cousin to cancer. What remained were the memories and the conversations that could no longer take place in the familiar way.
In his garden, Sasaki placed an old telephone booth with a simple rotary phone. It had no line and no signal — no one would answer on the other end.
Still, Itaru picked up the receiver and spoke. He told what he still wanted to say and let the wind carry his words.
He called the place Kaze no Denwa — 風の電話.
The Wind Phone.
At that time, it was still his phone. Just one year later, it would no longer be.
Kaze no Denwa 風の電話
“Life lasts at most a hundred years. But death continues for much longer. Those who remain must find a way to feel connected to those who are no longer here.”
Itaru Sasaki
Creator of the world’s first Wind Phone
- 2011 · when everything changes
From one personal conversation to thousands more
On March 11, 2011, Japan’s northeastern coast was struck by a powerful earthquake, followed by a devastating tsunami. Otsuchi was among the hardest-hit places, and for thousands of people, life was suddenly divided into “before” and “after”.
Sasaki opens the garden and his Wind Phone to others. People begin to come, enter the small white booth, and pick up the receiver. Some talk for a long time, others say only a few words, while others simply remain there in silence.
Thus, one personal conversation gradually becomes a place for thousands. The original Wind Phone is still located in the Bell Gardia garden in Otsuchi and is maintained by Itaru Sasaki and his wife.
Over 15 years, the phone has been visited by more than 30,000 people. Its idea has inspired the creation of more than 640 Wind Phones around the world, as well as books and films.
- from Japan to the world
A personal idea finds its way to others
The Wind Phone remains simple—and perhaps that is exactly why it finds a place in so many different corners of the world.
Some phones are in actual booths, others sit on a wooden table, beneath a small shelter, or simply in nature. There is no set design and no ready-made instruction manual.
Behind each one is a person who came across the story of that disconnected phone in Japan and thought:
„There should be a place like that here, too.“
Today, hundreds of Wind Phones exist around the world, and new ones continue to appear. My Wind Phone brings together their locations and the stories behind them.
sofia
- 2026 · Bulgaria
The story reached me
I happened to come across a photo of a Wind Phone in Scotland. I immediately understood why someone would pick up a phone they knew was not connected to anything.
I still have things to say to Mom, too.
Not just things that have been left unsaid. Life continues to bring new stories — beautiful, funny, important, and completely ordinary. And sometimes the first thought is still: “I have to tell Mom this.”
I also knew where I wanted this phone to be — on the small wooden bridge over the Dragalevka River, where I honor her memory and a small plaque preserves her name.
On September 10, 2026, her birthday, an old orange telephone will appear there. Created in memory of Lily, but left for anyone who still has something to say.
Do you want to make a Wind Phone but don’t know how?
imagine
“A Wind Phone doesn’t work without imagination. Instead of valuing only what we can see, hear, and touch, we must also discover value in things that have no form, image, or voice.”
Bulgarian 
English