Japanese skincare and cosmetics in Tokyo: where to buy, and how to get it home

Drugstores: the everyday best sellers

Matsumoto Kiyoshi runs flagship stores aimed at visitors. GINZA FLAG opened in July 2025 in Ginza 5-chome, on four floors with cosmetics making up most of the range, and it stays open until late evening; there are two more flagships in Shibuya and one at the Harajuku Omotesando exit. Other chains such as Sundrug, Welcia and Daikoku Drug have their own stores, and stock and prices vary from shop to shop. Ainz & Tulpe sits between a drugstore and a department store, with a curated selection; its Shinjuku and Shibuya stores are the largest.

@cosme TOKYO, Loft and Hands

@cosme TOKYO, opposite JR Harajuku Station, is the shop of Japan's biggest beauty review site. The ground floor shows the award winners and the weekly sales rankings, and after a renovation in March 2025 it has three floors, around 750 brands and a fragrance zone, with tax-free on the top floor. Loft, with large stores in Ginza and Shibuya, is good for trend and indie brands. Hands has its big store in Shinjuku; the Hands Shibuya store closes on 15 November 2026, while the Hands in Shibuya Scramble Square, connected to the station, stays open.

Department stores and Shiseido in Ginza

For the prestige houses, go to the beauty floors. Mitsukoshi Ginza has counters for Clé de Peau Beauté, SK-II, Decorté, Sensai and POLA, where staff offer consultations and skin analysis. Isetan Shinjuku has its cosmetics on the ground floor and the floor above in the main building, and the Beauty Apothecary two floors below ground, with natural cosmetics and wellness brands from around the world. In Ginza, SHISEIDO THE STORE is the brand's flagship: essentially the full Shiseido range on four floors, from skincare and makeup to fragrance and men's lines, plus THE GINZA, a line sold in only a few places. Services such as skin checks and salon appointments change, so check the official site before you go.

What to buy

The usual favourites are sunscreen, in light milk and gel textures that sit well under makeup, lotions (keshosui), cleansing oils, sheet masks, and lip and eye makeup. The quickest way to see what is selling now is the ranking shelf, which you will find in drugstores, at Loft and on the ground floor of @cosme TOKYO. Try testers before you buy several of anything, and check the official site of each shop for current hours.

Tax-free and the flight home

From 1 November 2026 tax-free shopping in Japan works as a refund. You pay the price including 10 percent consumption tax, keep your receipts and register your purchases, and the tax is refunded at customs when you leave Japan, before check-in. Bring your passport when you shop. Cosmetics no longer go into sealed bags, but they must leave Japan unused, and the items on a tax-free receipt should all be with you at departure. On international flights, liquids in the cabin must be in containers of up to 100 ml inside one transparent bag of up to one litre, so larger bottles go in the checked suitcase.

By car, and the price

Ginza, Harajuku and Shinjuku are close by car but tiring to link by train with bags. A chauffeur by the hour drops you at each shop, keeps your bags safely in the car and collects you at the door: Shiseido and Mitsukoshi in Ginza, @cosme TOKYO in Harajuku, Isetan and Hands in Shinjuku, all in one afternoon of about four to five hours. Takeshita-dori is a crowded pedestrian lane, so the car drops you by the station and waits nearby. It is from ¥16,000 per hour with a two hour minimum. Your chauffeur can speak English, Italian, Spanish, French or Japanese, at the same price.

See the full By the hour private tour, with prices and itinerary →