Japan Forum

I don't know how many of you are aware that mangaka Kazuo Umezu, of The Drifting Classroom and Cat-Eyed Boy fame, is embroiled in a legal battle so scandalous that Law & Order writers could only dream of writing something as engrossing.

See, Umezu-sensei painted his Musashino, Tokyo house red and white stripes (maybe he just reeeeeally loves candy canes?), and his neighbors didn't like it. They banded together and took him to court for “ruining the landscape.”

Fortunately, after the grueling legal process, presiding judge Minoru Hatakeyama declared that the house, while eye-catching, didn't ruin the landscape at all. Whew! That had me at the edge of my seat, how about you?

...What do you mean, “not exactly Law & Order fodder”?!

This case reminds me of Sandra Cisneros, who painted her home a pastel purple color in King Edward historical district in San Antonio, Texas.  The reason why she painted her home a bright purple color was because it was a reflection of her Latino culture.  I'm Latina myself and I understood completely.  My old neighborhood had bright blue, pink, and yellow homes because many homes are painted that way in Mexico.  Her neighbors took her to court for the same reasons as in the Kazuo Umezu case and also the neighbors worried that the property values of the area would decrease.  She won her case for the same reasons as Umezu's case.  It was all over the local newspapers.