Kazuo Umezu’s Horror House

Cartoonist Kazuo Umezu won a great victory in the name of ugly buildings today when a court dismissed complaints from residents of a neighborhood where Umezu is building a gawdy house in the image of one of his manga characters:

Two neighbors of Umezu, who is known for manga such as “Makoto-chan,” filed for the injunction against Umezu and Sumitomo Forestry Co. in the Tokyo District Court in a bid to halt construction of the home. They said that the new residence would damage the scenery in the Tokyo city of Musashino.

However, in a ruling on Friday the court dismissed the injunction request.

Umezu plans to paint his new residence in red-and-white horizontal stripes.

To demonstrate how horrible this will be for Umezu’s neighbors, one of their lawyers created this prediction of what their window view will look like after the striped house is finished:

Umezu’s house is a hideous eye sore and his neighbors a truly worthy of pity. I hope this is a wake-up call to towns and cities across Japan about the need for city ordinances that ban ugly bright-colored buildings. I’m pretty tired of seeing bright pink, blue, or green apartment buildings and houses in every city I visit…