After his cousin died in 2010, Itaru Sasaki built a glass paneled phone booth with a disconnected rotary phone to communicate with his relative and help him deal with his grief. The next year was the great disaster of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Sasaki's coastal town of Otsuchi was hit with 30 foot high waves and ten percent of the town died. He opened up his wind phone to the people of the community who also lost loved ones. Word spread and others from around the country came to talk to loved ones. It is estimated that 10,000 visited the phone booth within three years of the great disaster. The phone is a one way communication, but people hope that their loved ones can hear them. It gives people the chance to express feelings or say things that were left unsaid before the death.
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