Reviews

"If the world were to fall now, she told herself, she would fall with it, but if there was even the slightest chance of it staying upright, she would use every last ounce of energy she had to make that happen."

The Bell Gardia wind phone (kaze no denwa) on the foot of a hill in Kujirayama (The Mountain of the Whale) was made by a 60 yr. old local surfer, Itaru Sasaki in his own garden in the Iwate Prefecture, northeast of Japan.

he built it to mourn the loss of his brother and believes in the power of the truth in what is unseen.

“Nurture sensitivity, cultivate imagination." -Sasaki Itaru

It is a simple but beautiful telephone booth with white glass walls and a faded green roof which helps people process their grief and connect with their loved ones who had passed away from the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in March 11, 2011.

Inside it has a disconnected black phone acting like a bridge to the living and non living world and there’s a notebook beside it where visitors called the izoku (the ones left behind) can write the names of their loved ones as a way of remembering them.

“You need to emerge from the tragedy, from the shell of pain you've been encased in."
-LitHub, Lucy Rand, translator

It has since become a symbol of hope, healing, resilience and connection for people around the world who do pilgrimage not just from Japan but America, Australia, Germany, the Philippines, Holland, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Korea, China, Syria, France, overcoming barriers of gender race and religion.

“that you remain parent even when your children die. You may lose the word Mum or Dad, but the feeling of being a parent never goes
away.”

-ilove this book soo much! and the story of Yui, Hana, Takeshi and Shori are but some of the many brave survivors who never lost hope amidst this of this tragedy, they may grieve differently but the phone box was their unifying solace. I’ve underlined so many good lines in this book, and I hope you do too if you ever come across it.