As a grocer, Shoichi Chibana deals daily with lettuce and tomatoes, but now he is taking on what he hopes is the biggest perishable of all: American military bases.

A friendly, likable man who plays tag with schoolchildren who visit his boxy little neighborhood store, Mr. Chibana is like a Japanese Mr. Rogers. But he is also a landlord, and to the United States Army he is a landlord out of a nightmare.

Mr. Chibana, 47, says he is a pacifist, but he has long done battle with the Japanese Government and now he is challenging the Americans.

"I hate anything that leads to war," Mr. Chibana said. "So I am against the bases because they have a connection to war."

Mr. Chibana owns a small piece of land, about 2,400 square feet, inside an American air base. It has been in his family for generations.

In 1945, Mr. Chibana's grandfather was chased from the land to make room for the base, and he retaliated by charging the American soldiers with a bamboo spear. They then killed him, Mr. Chibana said.

These days, an antenna listening system with more than two dozen wire-framed towers soars like a giant birdcage into the sky above his land. Mr. Chibana, who gets about $2,000 a year in rent, is the only owner refusing to renew the lease on land in the listening compound, and that gives him some clout in the movement opposing the bases in Okinawa, home to three-fourths of the American bases in Japan. With President Clinton coming to Japan soon for a meeting with Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, embarrassment over the dispute is growing.

Mr. Murayama is expected to begin legal proceedings to expropriate the land-use rights on the property owned by Mr. Chibana and others who refuse to renew leases, something expected to be very painful for Mr. Murayama, a socialist who spent most of his career opposing the bases.

Mr. Chibana's campaign has mushroomed since the abduction and rape in September of a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl. Three American servicemen are on trial for the crime, which has provoked a national outcry.

"She will not be the same, and now she is becoming a human pillar, a sacrifice for all Okinawans," Mr. Chibana said of the victim. "We have to make her rape an historical turning point."

Mr. Chibana's neighbors were not exactly prepared for the outburst of protest from within their tiny village, where the people play croquet and dance together to traditional music.

It began one day in 1987, when Yomitan was host to a national athletic competition where organizers raised the Hinomaru, the Japanese flag, which raises some antagonism here because of its association with the militarism of the 1930's and 40's.

Resentment against the flag is strongest in Okinawa, the only inhabited part of Japan to see ground fighting in World War II. Japanese troops often treated Okinawan natives as an enemy, torturing and killing them, so for many Okinawans the flag symbolizes Japanese military imperialism.

In protest, Mr. Chibana climbed up to the pole at the opening ceremonies, lowered the flag and set fire to it with a cigarette lighter. The singular act of defiance was televised and sent quivers through Japan, which prides itself on harmony.

Neo-nationalist groups attacked Mr. Chibana's store, using hammers to destroy his refrigerators, cash register and windows. There were letters, postcards and midnight telephone calls from people threatening to kill him.

Buses with bullhorns paraded through the area vilifying him, and then one night arsonists splashed his store with oil and set it afire. So Mr. Chibana lost many customers, he was asked to resign from the local chamber of commerce, and suddenly his three children had few friends to play with.

There is no law against burning the Hinomaru. But Mr. Chibana was charged and convicted, and received a suspended sentence for destroying Government property. He appealed, but lost last month.

Mr. Chibana's passion against militarism was ignited when he discovered a cave near his store. In 1945, when American troops landed on Okinawa, more than 150 Okinawans hid in terror in the cave. As the Americans approached, more than half the Okinawans committed suicide or killed their own children to save them from the Americans.