The Phone Booth At The Edge of the World

In the aftermath of the Tsunami which occurrred after the 9.0 Earthquake on the Honshu Island in Japan on March 11,2011, 20,000 lives were lost. In memory of this tragic event, a garden was built at Bell Gardia Kujira-Yama. There, you will find an 'open wind phone', an unused telephone booth, which is available in spirit, for those who have suffered a loss, which provies an opportunity to speak to lost relatives. The wind then carries the conversation to a lost loved one, off the NW Pacific Ocean, where the tragedy occurred.

The book expands on the premise of the 'wind phone' whereby, an actual old phone booth is available for those grieving to use, to 'call their lost relatives' and speak to them directly. The phone booth is located in a 'hand built' countryside, named Bell Gardia on a beautiful spacious countryside which provides a seating area and is not located on a map.

"Close your eyes gently and listen to the sound around you carefully when you talk in your heart by "The Phone of the Wind." When you hear the sound of wind, waves of the sea-birds singing-convey your feeling to your lost loved ones, through the phone."

Yui, loses her mother and daughter in the Tsunami, she struggles daily, with the emotional trauma of the loss. She hosts a radio program; a man calls in to describe the phone booth, where he visits daily to talk to his wife about his day. He describes her whereabouts, after the tsunami as "whereabouts unknown." He describes solace in asking her, "How was your day?" And he feels "himself becoming the person he was before, his wife listening to him, from the kitchen, busy preparing dinner as he grumbles that the coffee burnt his tongue."

As news of the phone booth travels, visitors embark on a pilgrimage to test the veracity of the phone booth and its connection to relieve, and provide a brief interlude; a connection to long lost loved one. T

Inspired by the gentleman caller, Yui travels to the garden of Bell Gardia where the phone booth rests, waiting for the next caller. She realizes she cannot quite make it there to the phonebooth to call. But she finds solace in sitting in the beautiful garden and observing visitors come and go. She then meets a man, who has lost his wife, and his young daughter who has stopped speaking, over the tragic loss. They develop a friendship at Bell Gardia, and begin to meet there regularly.

Yui also provides assistance to the 'custodians' of the phone booth, Sasaki Itaru and his wife, who  built the garden, which they tend to and preserve. They lost their son in Tsunami. Since the phone's inception in 2011, 25,000 people have visited and spoken to lost ones through the 'wind phone.'

This book is an International best seller in 21 countires. I had heard about this book and could not wait to read it. I vividly remember hearing about the Tsunami that occurred in 2011 and the news story which described the loss of loved ones, as "whereabouts unknown." I was struck by the tragedy and the thought of, how could anyone ever survive such a tragic, tragic loss. 

In Acknowledgements, the Author describes Bell Gardia as a "magical place, profoundly imbued with spirituality, by the people who have visited there, over the years." She also states, it is her hope, that this book will imprint in our collective memory, a resounding statement to the power of resilience in a devastating tragedy.

https://www.yourstoriesofhope.com/the-wind-phone/