It was a wonderful day today, bright and sunny, just what I needed after a month of typhoon-induced rain! So I decided to take a bit of a time-out after my Japanese class and walk around the area a bit. And I went into the Toni Toni, the “Festival of the Ages Building” right next to Heian Shrine. It is a modern, steel reinforced concrete building with two storeys, but it looks like an old wooden house with white walls and dark wood beams and windows. It was built as a shopping mall and food court, and the location is well-chosen since there are barely any shops or restaurants in that area, and Heian Shrine is quite popular.
The building is brand new, it opened only last December, and I had been there two or three times before. But something felt out of place this time. There were hardly any customers around and some of the places I had noticed or shopped at before have already closed again, like the nice gyoza restaurant that would offer sake all day long… The whole feeling was rather sterile, unfortunately, and the prices for food were quite steep, which means that the rents for the shops must be outrageous.
I wonder how many people come to the place. Last time I was there, the guy from the gyoza shop complained that they would have to close already at 18:00, so no evening customers coming out of the theatre next door. And I know that many people visiting Heian Shrine come there with buses, I would guess that they have limited time for shopping, and definitely none for eating, even though takeout is possible.
And then again, maybe I just came at the wrong time. I was noon, where most bus tourists probably have lunch elsewhere. There are no big companies nearby whose employees would come for a quick bite. And there may be more tourists in the weekends too. Still, it appears that even in Kyoto, even in a very touristy spot like this, some things don’t work. Or at least: they will take quite some time to take off properly. Maybe things will be different by the time the 2020 Olympics come along?