The Tokyo High Court reversed a lower court ruling Wednesday and withdrew an order for a real estate developer to remove the top seven floors of an apartment building in Kunitachi, western Tokyo.
The building is part of a four-structure apartment complex on a scenic tree-lined street, known locally as Daigaku Dori or University Avenue, built by Meiwa Estate Co. in December 2001 amid strong protests from local residents that it infringed on their right to scenery.
In a landmark ruling in December 2002, the Tokyo District Court ordered Meiwa Estate to remove the top 23-meter section of the 44-meter-high east building -- the one structure out of the four that faces the avenue -- recognizing the residents' decades of effort to protect the scenery by not building structures higher than the 20-meter tree line.