Narita International Airport has played a key role in the aviation industry since it opened in 1978.

But the history of Japan's main international airport has been overshadowed by a longtime political struggle over eminent domain, pitting the government against local farmers and their support groups, mainly on the left, in one of the major social quagmires of the postwar era.

Experts say Narita is now facing intensifying competition with other Asian hub airports, including Incheon International Airport near Seoul and Singapore's Changi International Airport.