Narita Field Trip

Narita Airport, Tokyo’s international aviation hub, was once the site of the longest and most violent protests in Japan’s post-war history. Beginning in 1966, local farmers defended their land – first against bulldozers, later against the environmental destruction brought about by the construction of a modern airport. Their resistance was supported primarily by the student movement. The documentary feature Narita Field Trip (2010) was made during an extended research stay in Japan by Nina Fischer and Maroan el Sani, and explores the shifting public perception of Narita Airport. The historical events have largely faded from memory, and Tokyo’s younger generation knows little about them. Yet some farmers continue to resist the airport’s expansion to this day, cultivating organic crops in the fields between the runways. For Planetary Peasants at the ZNS, Fischer and el Sani present Narita Field Trip as an installation for the first time, accompanied by archival material, ephemera, and original film footage chronicling the history of the Narita protests.

On loan from the artists