Seven farmers vs. 50,000,000 people- who wins?

[dimwit]

The agony of extending Narita airports second runway continues.

Airport officials, hoping to extend the 2,180-meter runway to 2,500 meters, have long tried to bring the seven owners of 3.8 hectares of the land to the negotiating table. But it was only last week that the two sides had their first official dialogue.

The impasse highlights not only the sometimes bloody 39-year conflict the airport has waged with adjacent landowners, but also the difficulty in striking a balance in public projects between the public good and individual rights.

I really have never understood this. What wrong with expropriation? How these massively subsidized farm boys managed to get the government by the curlies? Japan was shown it can be quite ruthless with people who bring up WWII issues, so why the soft touch with these assholyes?


story here

[FG Lurker]

What I've never been able to figure out is why the hell these idiots don't WANT to sell!

If I had 150 planes a day passing as low as 40m (!) over my head I'd be out of there in a HEARTBEAT! You'd have to be incredibly fucking ornery to take that amount of abuse.

[Ketou]

You'd have to be incredibly fucking ornery to take that amount of abuse.

You're not wrong there!

[jingai]

You really need to understand the history of this struggle.
Read "Against the State" which will disabuse you of the notions that Japanese are passive and docile.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0674009215/qid=1114019474/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-7169392-1161539?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

These farmers' families were given this land to work from the Emperor. Many of them were sent off to fight in the fools' errand known as World War II. When they came back they didn't trust the government and didn't want to sacrifice the little they had left, their land, on the altar of modernization. The bigger question is why the government picked Narita, (which is nowhere near Tokyo) for the airport and how this fits into the construction-cronyism of Japan's rulers.

The story of old WWII-veteran farmers, 80 year old peasant women and left-wing anti-war radicals fighting off the Japanese riot police for a decade and stopping the construction of Narita is a fascinating tale. You'll never look at Narita (which is built like a fortress) the same way again!

[Socratesabroad]

These farmers' families were given this land to work from the Emperor. Many of them were sent off to fight in the fools' errand known as World War II. When they came back they didn't trust the government and didn't want to sacrifice the little they had left, their land, on the altar of modernization.

The second runway will effect eight families, or a total of 36 people, that live and work in the Toho hamlet. In addition, 14 employees commute to the hamlet every day from nearby villages. Five dogs and eight cats complete the community, not to forget 6,000 hens and 40 ducks. Toho Hamlet has a vegetable packing center, chicken farms, a pickle factory, an organic compost center, a lodging house, a hamlet shrine, and a cemetery. An old unpaved road runs through the hamlet, built by the farmers who first homesteaded the land here after World War II.
http://www.tokyo.to/backissues/feb00/tj0200p6,7,8,9/

Initially, surveyors proposed placing the airport in the village of Tomisato: however, Tomisato residents refused to give up their land, so the site was moved 5 km northeast to the village of Sanrizuka where the Imperial Household had a large farm, the government therefore had less difficulty to place the planned airport.
Due to land scarcity and weak expropriation laws, the inital and ongoing development of Narita Airport has been the cause of great controversy.
http://www.answers.com/topic/narita-international-airport

You really need to understand the history of this struggle.

Ummm, OK.

[jingai]

[dimwit]

Due to land scarcity and weak expropriation laws, the inital and ongoing development of Narita Airport has been the cause of great controversy.

So essentially, the farmers can not be expropriated. I imagine they have been offered big bucks to move, but have refused. Fuck em. Zero sympathy for the obstinate pricks. They are fucking 50,000,000 people. out of sheer bloodlimindedness.

[Blah Pete]

So is the government still offering 1970's prices or will the farmers now make more yen?

[emperor]

The story of old WWII-veteran farmers, 80 year old peasant women and left-wing anti-war radicals fighting off the Japanese riot police for a decade and stopping the construction of Narita is a fascinating tale.

I remember seeing footage of some protestors standing their ground in front of bulldozers and other protestors molotov cocktailing them. Most certainly not your typical footage of Japanese peeps...

Seeing as its for the benefit of the state and not some money-hungry evil corporation, I havent much sympathy for these 7 farmers assuming they have been offered a reasonable sum of money or plots of land somewhere else, which i imagine they have.

[FG Lurker]

These guys are probably just pissed off that they didn't settle with the gov't during the bubble.

The gov't was so desperate to settle that they could have got just about anything by then. I would have negotiated for three things:

1) Market value for the land (at bubble prices!)
2) An equivalent-sized & quality tract of land elsewhere at NO charge.
3) All taxes exempt on the money received, including inheritance taxes.

It would be an all-win situation for them. They'd have money enough to NEVER worry about it again. They would have land to work as they desired. And they would have peace & quiet -- something that is impossible to put a price on.

[nullpointer]

These guys are probably just pissed off that they didn't settle with the gov't during the bubble.

That's right on the mark

[Socratesabroad]