Elderly man lives on farm in middle of airport after fighting for decades to stay on his family’s land
An elderly farmer who has refused to give in to developers steadfastly continues to grow vegetables on his farm which is now in the middle of an airport.
It can be upsetting to see developers move in on open land, and 73-year-old Takao Shito has had to face that reality head-on.
His family has spent years cultivating farmland in Tokyo, but over time the surrounding land has become better known as the home of Narita airport; one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area.
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The airport originated in the 1960s, and last year it handled approximately 15.42 million terminal passengers.
However, what many of those likely didn't know is that the creation of the airport was met by opposition from farmers who were being pushed off their land.
Protests have continued for decades, and today Shito is still standing firm as he continues to live on his farm despite the fact it's now surrounded by two runways.
Far from the clean, fresh air you might expect to get on farmland, Shito's land is subject to engine noise and the smell of jet fuel exhaust.
Still, Shito doesn't want to give in.
"It's my life," he said, per CBS News. "I have no intention of ever leaving."
Shito's family have been tied to the land for nearly a century, but despite their willingness to buy it after World War II, they were prevented due to military service.
Instead, they have leased the land for generations.
Most of the property Shito lives on and uses as his farm has been declared government property, though he does own a small portion of the land that developers are eyeing up for the airport.
William Andrews, a writer and translator in Tokyo, has claimed that the protest about the Narita airport is now the longest-running social movement in Japanese history.
However, he said the fight is 'not just about an airport'.
"This case of Mr. Shito has come to encapsulate the final gasps of the movement ... the very last concrete struggle," he said.
Protests which have turned violent over the years have gone as far as to result in the deaths of some protestors, and in February riot police clashed with Shito and his supporters once again.
Officers installed high fences that divide Shito's house and shed from his fields, but the 73-year-old still remains determined.
"The best outcome would be for the airport to shut down," he said. "But what's important is to keep farming my ancestral land."
Emily Brown