As 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and St. Paul's 70th year as a sister city to Nagasaki, former St. Paul Mayor and Hamline professor Jim Scheibel led a group of nine Hamline students to Nagasaki on Jan. 12-19. This transformative experience offered students time and opportunity to deeply reflect on the impact the atomic bombing had on Nagasaki, Japan and the world.
The trip included multiple days at Nagasaki Peace Museum, where students viewed artifacts, read first-hand accounts and heard survival testimonials.
“Before this trip I didn't know about the specifics of what happened to the people under the mushroom cloud, so seeing the testimonials and the damage hit me,” said Zaid Alwaisi ’26. “It's given me a better understanding of how to view just how harmful nuclear weapons are to people and why they should never be used or exist in our world.”
Scheibel, who traveled to Nagasaki multiple times during his term as mayor, was accompanied on the trip by Lisa Nordeen, Hamline Assistant Provost for Student Success and Faculty Development. Nordeen said the trip evolved into a reflection on how to promote peace back home.
“There was an element of recognizing that this pressure and threat still exists, so how do we collectively find ways to make a difference?” Nordeen said.
During their time at the museum, students met the Mayor of Nagasaki and had discussions with Japanese college students about developing practical ideas for promoting peace in each of their parts of the world. Ideas included joining the sister cities committee and developing a story book for elementary students.
“They were talking about how to get fellow students involved and understanding the power that a collective voice has. ” Nordeen said. “It was refreshing to hear voices of peace when we’re not often exposed to that, we’re often exposed to rhetoric around conflict and not around de-escalating and finding common ground.”
Students also visited Peace Park, the epicenter of the bombing, which is now adorned with statues from countries and cities around the world promoting peace – including a statue from St. Paul that was gifted during Scheibel’s mayoral term.
The trip also included a broader understanding of Nagasaki’s history as a leading port city in Japan. In traveling to Japan and learning about the culture and events of the city, students also learned valuable lessons from one another.
“Early on, each of the students remarked upon how important it was for them to get to know each other. They were very intentional about finding conversations with each other even though they were coming from very different backgrounds,” Nordeen said. “This was an incredibly diverse group of students who took full advantage of the opportunity to learn across differences.”
While the trip was only eight days, its impact will last a lifetime.
“I will carry the dropping of the atomic bomb with me in my field of political science as a reminder that a man-made disaster that disproportionately affects citizens like this can never be normalized,” Alwaisi said. “The trip inspired me to push hard on denuclearization throughout my career in political science.”
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