Leave the Bottle Behind! Raising a Cup to Japan’s Single-Serving Sake

To enjoy cup sake, just pop the top and start sipping. (Kamoitsuha, Okayama Prefecture.)

The cup that started it all, One Cup Ōzeki (Hyōgo).

A selection of jizake cups. From left, Kujiraebisu (Wakayama), Fujisan-fujisan (Yamanashi), Kyōriki (Tottori), and Takaisami (Tottori).

Yuru kyara cup sake. From left, Notoro (from Ishikawa), Gunma’s very own Gunma-chan, and Kumamoto’s famous Kumamon.

From left, Medama-oyaji from Mizuki Shigeru’s hit comic series Gegege no Kitarō (Tottori, home to the artist); a feline-themed Nyan Cup featuring adorably rendered cats (Shizuoka); and the Ranma 1/2 cup bearing the panda character from Takahashi Rumiko’s popular series Ranma One-Half (Niigata).

Cup sake comes in a variety of containers other than glass. From left, Sankō (Okayama), Kagatobi (Ishikawa), Otokoyama (Hokkaidō), and Kamonomidori (Okayama).

Cute designs, such as these featuring animals from Hokkaidō’s Asahiyama Zoo (on the left and right) and the moon-and-rabbit cup by Tottori’s Suwaizumi (center), can make it hard to throw cups away when empty.

Fancy hirezake cups containing fins of hatahata (left, from Akita) and blowfish (Yamaguchi) are consumed warm, with the fish bit in the drink to add flavor.

A collector series by Akita distillery Dewatsuru emblazoned with images of famous festivals from the prefecture: from left, the Ōmagari fireworks, Nishimonai Bon dancing, and the Akita Kantō Matsuri.

Cup sake can be as much fun to gaze at as to drink. Shown here are Kumamoto brewer Zuiyō’s Higo flower series featuring iris (left) and chrysanthemum (right), the bridge-themed Gokyō cup (center left; Yamaguchi), and Takasago’s flower cup with cherry blossoms (center right; Tochigi).