The wind phone (風の電話, kaze no denwa) is an unconnected telephone booth in Ōtsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, where visitors can hold one-way conversations with deceased loved ones.

[1] After his cousin's death, Sasaki set up an old telephone booth in his garden in December 2010, to continue to feel connected to him by "talking" to him on the phone.

In Oakland, California, local artist Jordan Stern constructed a wind telephone in February 2017, to commemorate the 36 people who died in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire, including his friend.

[11] Altrúchas, an anonymous art collective based in Dublin, Ireland, set up a wind phone (fón gaoithe) atop Two Rock Mountain in August 2017.

[12] The wind phone, which was constructed from salvaged materials, was installed without permission; at the time, Altrúchas stated that they planned on "maintaining it indefinitely".

Their telephone booth, named the "phone of the sea breeze" (潮風の電話, shiokaze no denwa), was built in memory of one of Kazuko's students, an 18-year-old woman who died by suicide in 2009.

[22] According to Smith, she was inspired by a National Public Radio podcast about the wind phone and exchanged emails with Sasaki during the writing process, stating that it "was a thrill to receive his blessing and an honour to share his beautiful approach to grief through this book.

[24] Gerweck wrote the screenplay when she learned about the wind phone after her grandmother's death, saying: "I was intrigued by the emotional realities that could emerge in this metaphysical grieving space and so began my journey to translate this beautiful story to screen.