Staff writer
OSAKA -- It's hardly a populist revolution comparable to Eastern Europe's in 1989. But, for some local activists' groups in the Kansai region, the summer of 1998 may come to be remembered as the time when a politically apathetic public finally woke up and said "No!" to the plans of corporate and local government leaders.
The place is Kobe -- where thousands still remain in temporary housing 3 1/2 years after the Great Hanshin Earthquake, and where the voices of ordinary people have been loudest against a plan many fear will bankrupt the city: Kobe airport.
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