Sanrizuka The Three Day War

In 1968 the plan by the government to construct a new international airport in the fields of Sanrizuka near Tokyo unleashed one of the most important and enduring social upheavals in the history of postwar Japan The plan sought to evict thousands of farmers from their lands without any sort of respect for the locals rights Their resistance to eviction was met with extreme violence by the police Activists from all over the country including thousands of students joined with the farmers in their mounting struggle As the combats in Sanrizuka became more intense and the numbers of police increased the collective became more involved in the fighting Sanrizuka The Three Day War was what Ogawa called a bullet film an immediate and powerful piece of agitprop shot in three days and intended to be seen as quickly and widely as possible Credit ICA London