Originally Posted by dtc
So I've finally been to NRT now (via AA and CX). What's up with that "Down with Narita" sign that's practically on the NRT property?
Is this just a cultural misunderstanding and that "Down with Narita" is somehow expressing a positive?
Probably protesters. When the airport was first built back in the 1960s/70s, the gov't forcibly confiscated a lot of farmland to build it on since there was nowhere else closer to Tokyo that hadn't already been developed. They paid the farmers fair market value (so I've heard) but of course, the farmers were less than thrilled at the idea. There some very violent protests at the time and some hard-core left-wingers are still at it. And the airport keeps trying to expand in a country where flat land is very, very scarce.
Hence the sign. I think.