Decades of resistance: method and motivation in the struggle against Narita International Airport (1964-present)

Wallace, David J

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129968 Copy

Description

Title

Decades of resistance: method and motivation in the struggle against Narita International Airport (1964-present)

Author(s)

Wallace, David J

Issue Date

2025-07-24

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Wilson, Roderick I

Committee Member(s)

• Morrissey, Robert M
• Tierney, Robert

Department of Study

E. Asian Languages & Cultures

Discipline

E Asian Languages & Cultures

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Narita Airport
• Tokyo
• Protest Movements
• Sanrizuka Struggle
• Environmental History
• New Left
• 1960s

Abstract

The Sanrizuka Struggle (1964 to Present) saw farming families unite with leftist student groups to protest against the construction of New Tokyo International Airport (now Narita Airport). I trace the project’s development, from its benign origins as a means of alleviating congestion at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to its escalation into militant protest and violence between protesters, police and government workers. I analyze the myriad factors that contributed to the outbreak of unprecedented levels of violence during the struggle, and work to fit the protests into a larger chronology of environmental and social movements in Japan and worldwide. I conclude that the Sanrizuka Struggle represents something groundbreaking in the realm of Japanese counterculture: a concerted effort by disparate factions to resist the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government’s policy of “progress at any cost.” Although earlier scholars have oversimplified the protests as NIMBYist violence against an inconvenient land development project, I show how the movement was multifaceted and complex, inspired not just by local concerns, but national issues. With time, it grew to include supporters from across Japan and around the world. Hantai Dōmei protestors sought to raise awareness of injustices they saw as a threat to their way of life. The construction of New Tokyo International Airport brought the Hantai Dōmei’s farmers and leftist students together out of a sense of economic, environmental, and political necessity.

Graduation Semester

2025-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129968

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2025 David Wallace

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