Kazuo Umezu’s house is seen in this image taken from TV.

Court turns down neighbors' plea for cartoonist to remove stripes from house

Thursday 29th January, 06:17 AM JST

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PuffinMuffin at 04:24 PM JST - 29th January

oh I see, they want it in boring grey again. well done Court
jonnyboy at 05:14 PM JST - 29th January

i hardly think the area would be pretty without this house. i'm yet to see non-eyesore japanese 'burb
Jdudeo at 06:51 PM JST - 29th January

neighbourhoods all around the world would be much more interesting if more people had the balls to customize their house like this, I think it's awesome!
grafton at 07:07 PM JST - 29th January

tkoind2 at 08:49 AM JST - 29th January “Grafton. Art or eye sore is rather subjective don't you think?”

It is only subjective after having seen it, it cannot be anything but speculative if you have no picture of it & JT did not think it worth the effort to give us a picture. THAT was the point I was making.

I asked a question about it, I did not make a judgement on the house it self, nor did I make any judgement on any of the posters opinions.

Now that JT have been kind enough to add a picture I can add my opinion & that is that this house is, in my opinion, an eye sore, because, in my opinion, it lacks any aesthetic value.

That is, however, only my opinion.
nidu at 07:08 PM JST - 29th January

I like the chimney which looks like a red faced man with a cap on it. He`s awesome, he should be given some kindda prize for his artisticly decorated house and his neigbours should be sued back.
tjfrancis at 09:36 PM JST - 29th January

The best thing you can say about that house is that it ceases to be an eyesore after the sun goes down.

nope, even after sundown the house still stands out.
shouganaika at 09:47 PM JST - 29th January

This is the kind of mentality that permeates Japan, he's not alone in his thinking... He's got 120 million like-minded friends...

no he hasn't or you would see red and white houses on every street and they wouldn't be complaining about it.
Molenir at 10:38 PM JST - 29th January

I think it looks nice. Neighbors should quit their whining. Its not like he is playing loud music at all hours of the night, or not dealing with his garbage, causing intense smells to permeate the neighborhood. No, he just has a decorative house. If thats all they have to whine about, then maybe they need to find a hobby.
grafton at 11:10 PM JST - 29th January

Molenir at 10:38 PM JST - 29th January

“then maybe they need to find a hobby.”

House painting?

Arson perhaps?
Nessie at 12:59 AM JST - 30th January

The neighbors complained that the horizontal stripes made the house "look fat."

What they shoudl really do is paint their houses plaid.
asiabytes at 03:41 AM JST - 30th January

Typical tyrannical J neighbors. God forbid someone try to enliven the concrete moonscape that is Tokyo!!
Molenir at 12:29 PM JST - 30th January

What they shoudl really do is paint their houses plaid.

See, now that would be a good hobby. Why not try to outdo the guy, liven up the neighborhood even more!
pontananagoma at 12:29 AM JST - 2nd February

thats typical Japanese custom..you should not stand out !! even in middle school..same bag same shoes and school uniform!! well, the guy is a famous cartoonist..thats his trademark so ithinkthe govt should remove the color coding they set for houses to avoid trouble with urusai kinjou no baba tachi!!
paisley at 10:52 AM JST - 2nd February

I like the house a lot better than the boring house next to it. I think Id much rather have the cartoonist w/a fun free spirit as my neighbor than his neighbors who will take him to COURT to try to dictate to him how to paint his house! _What kind of people are they! I cant imagine doing that to my neighbors. I have a neighbors with his house only 1/2 painted but no one around my neighborhood cares. We appreciate the person rather than the appearance of his house. This cartoonist has some really uptight neighbors,not neighborly and warm at all. It`s too bad there are people in the world like his neighbors who can't respect others and just enjoy life, but have to maliciously meddle in others lives.
kokuryu at 05:19 AM JST - 5th February

I think the house looks really nice. The neighbors should be ashamed of themselves.