A group from the University of New Mexico (UNM), including Associate Professor Myrriah Gómez and graduate students Sachi Barnaby and Yoma Wilson, recently traveled to Japan to mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The UNM delegation joined faculty, students from eight U.S. universities, and U.S. Catholic clergy on a weeklong pilgrimage that included religious services, civic events, and academic panels.
Barnaby described the experience as transformative: “Our pilgrimage to Hiroshima and Nagasaki was just transformative. The conversations I had with Japanese and American students, as well as faculty and clergy, challenged me to ask deeper questions about nuclear weapons, and I’m eager to continue our peacebuilding efforts beyond this trip.”
During a symposium in Nagasaki titled “Walking Together: A Gathering of Pilgrims for Peace,” Gómez delivered a talk called From New Mexico to Nagasaki. The event was organized by the Partnership for a World Without Nuclear Weapons (PWNW), which includes several Catholic archdioceses from both countries along with universities such as Notre Dame University, Georgetown University, Loyola University Chicago, Marquette University, Sophia University (Japan), Nagasaki Junshin Catholic University (Japan), and local Protestant universities.
As part of her presentation at Urakami Cathedral—located at the hypocenter of the 1945 bombing—Gómez brought dirt from El Santuario de Chimayó in New Mexico as a symbol connecting the place where the plutonium bomb was developed to its use in Nagasaki. She noted parallels between New Mexico and Japan: “There were many reflections of New Mexico in Japan, which is so fundamentally different, but there were two things for me that were strikingly similar: the Catholic faith and the language of nuclear abolition.”
Other panelists included Archbishop Emeritus Takami of Nagasaki; Hirano Fusako, an atomic bomb survivor; and Nishimura Yuji, a second-generation survivor from Nagasaki.
Looking ahead, Gómez expressed hope for continued collaboration: “The partnerships developed before and during this trip will extend into the future in terms of binational collaboration. We hope to bring a traveling exhibit from the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum to UNM in 2027.”
Barnaby and Wilson participated in forums with 33 other students from both countries before and during their visit. They heard testimony from survivors (hibakusha) and visited atomic bomb museums along with other cultural sites.
Wilson reflected on student engagement: “It was great to connect with other students from American and Japanese Universities on our goal for nuclear abolition. We were able to exchange information and stories and some of the Japanese students were hearing about the [Trinity] Downwinders for the first time.”
Gómez also highlighted ongoing student involvement: “The best part was taking two UNM students to collaborate with the three dozen students who participated in this convergence. Yoma and Sachi have already started a local chapter of Students for Nuclear Disarmament since we returned.”
The three plan to co-author an article titled Finding Querencia in Japan: A Nuclear Pilgrimage from New Mexico to Nagasaki for an upcoming issue of Nexus: Conversations on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition.
