Society

Japanese farmer has fought for decades to stay on his ancestral land in the middle of Narita airport

TOKYO, Aug 23 (CBC News) - Narita airport, one of Tokyo's main international gateways, projects an image of efficiency and service characteristic of Japan's economic prominence. But beneath the surface, there is a long and troubled history of farmland being seized and lives being lost over the airport's construction and continued presence.

Takao Shito, 73, personifies the struggle over the area. Across generations, his family has cultivated farmland that planes now fly over, signifying both resilience and protest.

His family has leased the land for generations. And since it sits smack in the middle of the airport, one of Narita's two runways had to be built around it.

Even though the farm is now subjected to engine noise and air choked with jet fuel exhaust, Shito hasn't been swayed into moving.

"It's my life," he said of the land. "I have no intention of ever leaving."

Originating in the 1960s as a symbol of Japan's progress, Narita airport was placed in the rural expanse of Tenjinmine, about 40 miles from overcrowded Tokyo. Development, however, was met by opposition from local farmers who resented being pushed off their land. Their cause attracted thousands of radical leftists, and decades of violent and occasionally deadly protests ensued. ...continue reading

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