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Why was it that a modern and commonplace facility like an airport drove so many people to such maniacal extremes? The trouble began in 1966, when government planners searching for a site for a jet-age airport chose Narita, which lies in a rolling truck-farm belt. Ignoring the consensus system, which is considered a cardinal virtue in Japanese society, the planners never bothered to consult with the residents of the region, whose families have farmed the same tracts for generations. To the dismay and fury of the farmers, the government began to expropriate the land. Thus was organized the Anti-Airport League, an odd amalgam of angry farmers and environmentalists since dominated by an assortment of radical students, who saw Narita as an outlet for their extremist zeal. The group built a series of "protest towers" at the end of the first runway, staged marches and harassed operations wherever it could. Altogether, since 1967 there have been 56 separate major incidents at Narita; four policemen and one demonstrator were killed, 3,100 cops and 5,000 protesters injured and 1,900 people arrested.
The relentless protests compounded what had been bad airport planning in the first place. Few airports in the world are as distant from the city they serve as Narita. The designers envisioned a 125 m.p.h. bullet train and a freeway to link the airport with Tokyo. But protests halted the necessary land acquisition, and neither system was built. As a result, when the airport finally opens, travelers will be forced to take a two-hour, $50 taxi ride (or two-hour, $8.50 airport bus) to the city; and because of heavy traffic, they will be required to check in at least four hours ahead of flight departures.
To make matters worse, airlines are resentful because they must pay airport fees that are 30% higher than those at Haneda. They also worry about flight safety. Narita has only one 13,000-foot runway, which is periodically subjected to severe crosswinds. Even the jet-fuel handling system has been complicated by the disorders. Unable to acquire land for an underground pipeline, airport managers must transport fuel by railroad tank car. Because the protestors have tried to blow up at least one train, shipments move under heavy police guard.
No one is happy about Narita's costs and security problems except the people who have caused them. Issaku Tomura, the 69-year-old leader of the demonstrators, crowed that last week's disorder constituted "a great victory. We have prevented the opening of the airport and will fight on until it is abandoned altogether." The government is not likely to abandon Narita easily, and the end—or the beginning—of the world's most troubled airport is still not in sight.