Sanrizuka - Moeru Hokuso daichi / Document 1966-1971

Tadao Mitome
Sanrizuka - Moeru Hokuso daichi / Document 1966-1971

Photographs: Tadao Mitome

Publisher: Shinsensha

192 pages

Pictures: 146

Year: 1971

Comments: Hardcover under dust jacket with obi as issued, 237 x 177 mm. Gravure reproductions. First edition, 1971. Text in japanese. Included in Martin Parr & Gerry Badger, The Photobook, vol.3. Inscription and date from the old owner of the book. Some wears to the cover with a tear on the first page and a miss on the obi (see pictures) Extremely scarce copy from the japanese protest area. Stunning black & white reproductions printed in a deep gravure.

Sanrizuka documents the intense civil unrest between residents of Sanrizuka, an agricultural area located on the east side of Narita airport, and government authorities, in the run up to the construction and later expansion of the airport. Under a 1966 plan, the airport would have been completed in 1971, but due to the ongoing resettlement disputes, not all of the land for the airport was available by then. Finally, in 1971, the Japanese government began forcibly expropriating land. 291 protesters were arrested and more than 1,000 police, villagers and student militants were injured in a series of riots.