"We don't want that strange house!"

A request to halt Kichijouji construction on Kazuo Umezu's home has been granted

trans. from Yahoo News Japan

pic source

A Tokyo court issued a temporary halt on the residence of manga writer Kazuo Umezu (The Drifting Classroom, Makoto-chan) we learned on August 1. Neighbors complained that the "outrageous structure" was being built without the neighborhood environment in mind.

The contract with the Sumitomo Construction Company calls for a two-story house with 60 cm wide red and white stripes running along the outer walls. On the rooftop was to be a giant statue of Makoto-chan.

According to representitives at the Sumitomo Construction Company, they had planned on the striped outer walls, but only to have a window and chimney on the roof, and no statues of comic book characters.

Mr. Umezu declined comment while the case is still pending.

Makoto-chan