Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 7 @ 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Honoring victims. Committing to nuclear abolition.
81 years ago an atomic weapon was used to destroy the city of Hiroshima, unleashing a degree of wartime horror never before seen. Three days later, another atomic bomb devastated Nagasaki. For a brief period, through determined activism and a few enlightened leaders, risks of nuclear war were reduced via treaties and nuclear weapons reduction. Today, however, many treaties have been allowed to expire, and the 9 nuclear nations are re-building their nuclear arsenals, while additional countries attempt to acquire them. New weapons are far more destructive than those used 81 years ago. A few countries, including the US, have recently threatened nuclear weapon use, an act generally considered taboo.
It is time to raise our voices once again.
Join us to say “NO NUKES!
University United Methodist Church | 1085 E. Genesee St. | Syracuse
Friday, August 7, 2026 | 4:30-6:00pm
Procession: Gather at 4:30, route is 1.2 miles
Reception: 6 pm – 6:30pm
Speakers:
Youko Yamamoto, main organizer of the Bon-Odori Dance Festival for Peace in Kingston, NY, is well known as a peace activist, cultural ambassador, and owner/chef of Tanma Ramen Restaurant.
Born in Yokohama, Yamamoto moved with her family to Hiroshima at age 10, where the devastating legacy of the city’s 1945 nuclear catastrophe became a lifelong impetus for her work for peace. She will share with us her most recent conversations with aging Hiroshima atom bomb survivors after a spring trip to Japan, and the inspiration for her continuing work that she gained from these interviews.
Joshua Reno is a socio-cultural anthropologist, who researches various forms of waste and their impact on lives, economies, and social movements in the contemporary U.S. In a “spoken word” manner, he will make real the connections between military waste and how it weaves into the uncanny, uncountable scale of the Hiroshima bombing, offering us a powerful, somatic reflection on the true monstrosity of the weapon.
Josh is a professor at SUNY Binghamton, and author of Military Waste: The Unexpected Consequences of Permanent War Readiness (2019,).