very underwhelming

The Tozai (east-west) subway under Sanjo Street was under construction when I arrived in Japan in 1994, and has been a great help. It made obsolete the streetcar that ran from the Sanjo-Keihan station just east of the Kamo River. For the intervening years I've been wondering what would become of the premium parcel of land where the station was. This would be the commercial anchor point for a segment of Sanjo ripe for revival running east from Kawabata Street. Wonder no more, it is here, and it sucks:

The Kyoen shopping center is made of prefab buildings, with some kind of lattice encircling some of them, trying without success to hide their obvious prefab-ness. One can only hope that this is a temporary solution for a depressed economy, and that this site will be redeveloped with tasteful Kyoto elegance at a later date, when budget allows.