By the mid-1960s Tokyo's Haneda Airport was overwhelmed. In 1966 the government chose farmland near the town of Narita, about sixty kilometers east of the capital, for a new international airport.
The decision ignited the Sanrizuka struggle, one of postwar Japan's fiercest protest movements, as farmers refusing expropriation allied with student radicals. Construction proceeded behind fortifications, and days before the planned 1978 opening, protesters stormed the control tower and destroyed equipment, forcing a delay. New Tokyo International Airport finally opened in May 1978 with a single runway and extraordinary security that endured for decades.
Because land acquisition remained incomplete, the second runway did not open until 2002, in time for the FIFA World Cup. Even then at reduced length because holdout farms sat in its path.
For over three decades Narita handled nearly all of Tokyo's international flights, becoming a major transpacific connecting point and cargo gateway, home to Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways long-haul operations. After Haneda regained international slots from 2010, Narita reinvented itself, courting low-cost carriers with the dedicated Terminal 3 in 2015 and keeping a leading role in freight. Plans for a third runway and major expansion are now moving forward.