Narita International Airport
airport serving Tokyo, Japan
Narita International Airport (Japanese: 成田国際空港, Hepburn: Narita Kokusai Kūkō; IATA: NRT, ICAO: RJAA), originally known as New Tokyo International Airport (新東京国際空港, Shin Tōkyō Kokusai Kūkō), is an international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area. It is located approximately 60 kilometers (37 mi; 32 nmi) east of central Tokyo in Narita, Chiba. The airport covers approximately 1,137 hectares (2,810 acres) and is undergoing expansion that will increase its total area to approximately 2,300 ha (5,700 acres).
The airport's development was highly controversial and was opposed by many local residents, with opposition continuing decades after its opening. The government's decision to construct the airport without the consent of many affected landowners led to the Sanrizuka Struggle, a prolonged series of protests against the airport's construction and land expropriation. The original plan called for five runways, but only two were ultimately built amid difficulties acquiring land from opposing farmers. Some privately held properties remain within the airport complex, including a farm around which one of the runways was built. The dispute has also contributed to restrictions on airport operations, including a mandatory late night curfew prohibiting aircraft operations between midnight and 6 a.m. to limit aircraft noise in surrounding communities.
Narita was historically Japan's busiest airport for international passenger and cargo traffic.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Narita International Airport” as airport serving Tokyo, Japan. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as airport serving Tokyo, Japan. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q36454. VIAF identifies the subject as 242742775. The Library of Congress control number is nr2004010242. Authority coordinates are 35.765, 140.388. 4 of 9 selected statements include explicit references; 5 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Narita International Airport”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Narita International Airport primary sources, Narita International Airport archive and Narita research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Narita International Airport”?
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- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Narita International Airport” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.