Narita International Airport () , also known as Tokyo-Narita, formerly and originally known as , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Haneda Airport (HND). It is about east of central Tokyo in Narita, Chiba. The facility since July, 2019, covers 1,137 hectares (2,810 acres) of land and there are future plans to expand to nearly 1,200ha (3,000 acres)
The conceptualization of Narita was highly controversial and remains so to the present day, especially among local residents in the area. This has led to the Sanrizuka Struggle, stemming from the government's decision to construct the airport without consulting most residents in the area, as well as expropriating their lands in the process. Even after the airport was eventually completed, air traffic movements have been controlled under various noise related operating restrictions due to its direct proximity with residential neighborhoods, including a house with a farm that is located right in between the runways. As a result, the airport must be closed from 00:00 (12:00am) to 06:00 (6:00am) the next day to minimize the noise pollution impact around the airport.
Narita is the busiest airport in Japan by international passenger and international cargo traffic. In 2018, Narita had 33.4 million international passengers and 2.2 million tonnes of international cargo. In 2018, Narita was also the second-busiest airport in Japan in terms of aircraft movements (after Haneda Airport in Tokyo) and the tenth-busiest air freight hub in the world. Its main runway shares the record for longest runway in Japan with the second runway at Kansai International Airport in Osaka. Narita serves as the main international hub of Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Nippon Cargo Airlines, and as a hub for low-cost carriers Jetstar Japan and Peach.
History
Construction and local resistance
Before Narita opened, Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) was Japan's main international airport. Haneda, on Tokyo Bay near densely populated residential and industrial areas, began to suffer capacity and noise issues in the early 1960s as jet aircraft became common. The Japanese transport ministry commissioned a study of alternate airport locations in 1963, and in 1965 selected a plan to build a five-runway airport in the village of Tomisato. The site was later moved northeast to the villages of Sanrizuka and Shibayama, where the Imperial Household had a large farming estate. This development plan was made public in 1966.
The government argued that one merit of the site was the relative ease of . However, local residents were not consulted during the initial planning phase, and learned of the selection of the airport site through the news. This led to shock and anger among the local community, which continued for many years. Though the Japanese government had eminent domain power by law, such power was rarely used due to a preference to resolve land disputes consensually.
At the time, the socialist movement still had considerable strength in Japan, evidenced by the large-scale student riots in Tokyo in 1960. Many in the "new left" such as Chūkaku-ha opposed building Narita, reasoning that the real purpose for the new airport was to promote capitalism and to provide additional facilities for US military aircraft in the event of war with the Soviet Union. These individuals sought to ally with the more conservative local farmers who simply did not want to give up their land for the airport.
About 1966, a group of local residents combined with student activists and left-wing political parties formed a popular resistance group, the (; ), which remained active until fracturing in 1983 and they started protest activity called Sanrizuka Struggle (; ). Similar strategies had already been employed during the postwar era to block the expansion of Tachikawa Air Base and other US military facilities in Japan. In June and July 1966, the Union sent formal protests to the mayor of Narita, the governor and vice-governor of Chiba Prefecture and the prefectural office of the Liberal Democratic Party. In November 1967, when the Transport Ministry began surveying the perimeter of the airport, Union members set up roadblocks. The Zengakuren radical student union then began sending students to Narita to help the local farmers. During eminent domain, three policemen were killed by activists.