Kazuo Umezu Horror House Unveiled
March 14th, 2008 by James
When we last reported about Kazuo Umezu’s horror house, it was in the process of being constructed. As this new video now shows, it is now complete!
Despite previous setbacks, some local residents are still fighting in court to have the appearance of the house changed. Apparently its colors and face-shaped tower are offensive to the peaceful atmosphere of the neighborhood.
Kazuo Umezu's house:
[via Same Hat! Same Hat!]
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It’s ugly, but let the guy do what he wants…
I like it! Now we know where we can find Waldo.
Some of his neighbors need to relax and refrain from using terms like “color violence” to describe this structure.
In Japan, as far as i know, everything is different and respect is the most important value… and respect not only as the rest of the world knows it, but it extends to topics like this one, where you shouldn’t have a house that is not in harmony – let’s say – with the rest of the other houses…
anyway i think is a cool house by the outside and i wouldn’t mind about it… but i say that because i’m not japanese so i see it with other eyes.
The construction is a victory against nosy, pushy, 50-something ladies with nothing to do except see it as their duty to play the role of the hammer that pounds flat any nails that they think “stick out”. Bitches.
So, now they will start a long campaign of checking his garbage every day for proper sorting,etc. Or actually resort to mischief, lies, harassment, etc.
Let the war begin, I hope he wins. Maybe the house needs more pink, and maybe some music playing on a constant loop outside.
Maybe as a side effect, any gaijin in the area will be able to breathe more easy as the various neighborhood busybodies focus on this house.
it is not ugly but it is not beautiful. Not especially annoying–it is rather fun. The neighbor’s claim is ungrounded—it is not violence by color and shape.
But when he starts playing music on a constant loop outside, the neighborhood is justified in stopping it.
Although this house is not exactly my style, I still love it! I applaud Kazuo Umezu for making the neighbourhood a little more interesting. I also find it ironic how so many Japanese people (and people in general) want to become a kid again, yet stigmatize those who add creativity and colours to their lives.
Great comment! Conformity has its place in securing a harmonous, yet discriminating society, but I think that creativity and vitality are ideals that need to be more prevalent in adult life, especially in Japan. I think, however, that he might still have sought some type of consensus with the locals before building the house and while keeping the colors, he might have done away with the face on the side of the house.
Not nearly as bad as I feared, based on the earlier post. The ones who are complaining are the 50-ish housewives who rule the neighbourhood (the sort that will have no hesitation in demanding to see your rubbish on rubbish day). But what the hell is this “景観利益” nonsense? Seriously, your average Japanese city is not beautiful. Japanese cities may be many things, but beautiful is seldom one of them.
I think that term is probably related to something like the concept of property value that they have in my parents neighborhood. Everyone in the neighborhood has to get permission from the local planning association in order to make drastic changes to their property because ultimately the decisions of one person will affect the selling price of another person.
That being said though, since only land has value here and even that depreciates yearly I say this guy should do whatever he wants. I wouldn’t want to live next to the house, but that’s just me.
I support Uemzu. And, a lot of it has to do with the motives and tactics used by his neighbors. I’ve lived in places back in the US where there were established codes to preserve historical or architecturally-significant aspects of the neighborhood. However, this does not seem to be the case at all.
Rather, they have much more in common with the residents of Nagamizo in Fukuroi, Shizuoka who in 2007 successfully blocked an attempt by a 3rd generation Japanese-Brazilian resident to purchase a plot of land to build a family home. See http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=2144
I’m going to Tokyo in a few weeks, and my plan is to find the house if it’s not too hard. I figure asking around could work, but does anyone know more specifics on the locale?
I was gonna try looking on Google Maps (satellite mode) to give myself a challenge. We know that the locale is near Kichijoji…
Any Tokyo residents have more specific info?
I don’t think the Google satellite image are that up to date. And the are near Kichijoji, western Tokyo (I live out there) is one of the biggest sprawls of 3 story buildings that all look alike in the world.
Yeah – good luck finding a random house in the Tokyo suburbs. Try maybe 2ch or Japanese websites to try to narrow it down.
Ooh, this is near where I live! (same city) I will definitely have to take a look, but Musashinoshi is so damn huge.. :/
It’s true— probably will be more trouble than it’s worth.
That said, in the opening of the clip, you can see a curved road, nearby red and green roofed homes and a long rectangular building. If anyone has any more details yet, I bet we can find someone in the crowd that can pinpoint it
Then again, asking around in Musashino wouldn’t be TOO hard would it? “Have you seen Umezu-sensei’s red and white Makoto-chan house?”
Ryan!
The man is the OG of horror manga. He can do as he likes.
looks like Woodsy the owl!
maybe we should have an ugly/not ugly vote directed at random people on the street and deal with the uglies accordingly. I’m not intolerant, I just only want to see pretty things.
Thats insane, I love it!