I was very satisfied with the delicious gyoza and the many stars at Marutamachi Station on the Kyoto Municipal Subway Karasuma Line. On my way back to the station, I saw a distant light. It looked like a standing bar, so I headed towards the light to end the night in Kyoto. It turned out to be a sake store, a stylish standing bar run by a young couple. I enjoyed several cups of Japanese sake with a great selection of drinks. I also found some dried snacks and canned goods. I was thrilled to find the oil sardines from Takenaka Canning, which were delicious. The final touch was Kyoto Ogawa Coffee's coffee stout. It was a perfect way to end the night in Kyoto.

We went to our sixth spot for hanami. We found a trendy craft beer bar in Gosho-minami on our way to dinner, but it turned out to be not a typical standing bar. Unfortunately, the night cherry blossoms at Nijo Castle were way more crowded than we expected, even worse than the weekend crowd at Demachi Futaba before the pandemic. We decided to prioritize alcohol over flowers and found a cool restaurant to dine at. It was quite spacious with only one other group there, so we chose a table near the entrance that magically transformed into a window seat. It was amazing. Since we had a larger group, we decided to order bottles of drinks. I left the ordering to someone else, and before we knew it, we had finished three bottles. It was lucky to stumble upon such a cool restaurant.

The restaurant offers a selection of sake, beer, and wine chosen by the owner. It's a standing-only place where you can also bring your own food. The stylish restroom is a nice touch. I bought some Yurinya rice crackers for snacks and they were delicious.

"Sake Cube Kyoto is a great place to enjoy Japanese sake in Kyoto. Located in Nishinoto-in, the restaurant offers a variety of delicious food options."

Located near Nijo Castle, on Nijo-dori Nishi-no-toin, this Japanese sake bar opened in December 2016. It is situated within Takai Saketen, known as a "standing bar." The stylish interior features a square table in the center. They offer a selection of popular sake breweries from Kyoto Prefecture, as well as local beers and wines. Sake is available by the bottle starting at 1,000 yen, and by the glass starting at 500 yen. They also serve snacks like canned food and dried persimmons. I tried the Fushimi Tomio "Daiginjo Junmai Sasani Gori Namazake," which was refreshing and easy to drink. They open at 10:00 in the morning, making it a great spot for daytime drinking.