This is insane! I’ll never look at Narita airport the same way again. They only just stopped checking ID to enter the airport a few years back. I heard the ID check was in part because of those riots/opposition to the airport.
You are correct! The main struggle lasted for over 10 years and included radicals storming the control tower and smashing the machinery. After that there was long and dirty internal strife, which is why they kept that ID check for so long. Some elderly farmers are still holding out today, and if you look on Google Maps you can see their hard fought legal victories on the tarmac.
This totally puts my favorite Riot song into new context. I’d always wondered what the siren and noises at the end of the song meant. Thank you for posting this. I’m always interested in learning about stuff we’re not supposed to know about (like the Mimizuka Nose Mound).
Also explains the album cover with Riot’s mascot defending the residents’ land; the skulls of his vanquished foes piled up in the background while a plane flies overhead.
