Protests Surrounding the Construction of Narita Airport

Protests saturated postwar Japan’s political landscape. In 1960 public demonstrations were sparked by the ratification of a lopsided security treaty between Japan and the United States, which was escalating involvement in Vietnam. Large-scale protests were also mounted against the construction of Narita Airport, led by leftists who opposed the airport out of antimilitarist, anti-American sentiments, as well as farmers whose land would be seized in order to make room for the massive facility. While the airport was completed in 1972, it only opened in 1978 after the government finally quelled the dogged resisters. This picture is one of a group of 500 made anonymously by one or more protesters against the airport, and purchased by the Art Institute in 2010.