10 Korean Skincare Brands You Can Find in Japan

Get The K-drama Glow in Tokyo

By Rachel Crane |
June 18, 2025 |
Style & Beauty, Lifestyle

Overnight collagen masks, micro-needling in a bottle, nourishing natural ingredients–Korean skincare has it all. Luckily, you don’t need to travel all the way to Seoul to get your hands on the goods. Here are some of the best K-beauty brands you can find right here in Japan.

Korean skincare is taking the beauty world by storm. Once a niche reserved for Asian beauty enthusiasts, South Korean skincare products are becoming increasingly mainstream, with K-beauty stores opening up in major cities everywhere. Korean products are known for being kind to sensitive skin and prioritising protective sunscreen. What’s more, many brands can boast about being completely cruelty-free.

As South Korea’s neighbor, Japan has been one step ahead in recognizing the appeal of K-beauty. Tokyo’s Shin-Okubo, known as Koreatown, is bursting at the seams with popular Korean skincare goodies. But you don’t have to take a detour all that way to find what you’re looking for. While Koreatown is definitely the place to go for K-pop merchandise or Seoul-style street food, Korean skincare products are available all over Japan.

Not sure where to start? Read on for our guide to 10 Korean skincare brands you can find in Japan, and where to buy them.

Why Is Korean Skincare So Popular?

You only need to look at the glowing faces of K-pop and K-drama stars to know that South Koreans take their skincare seriously. The goal isn’t just skin that’s free of wrinkles or blemishes—it’s skin so smooth and hydrated that it seems to reflect the light. The look is known as ‘glass skin’, and it’s not just fresh-faced youngsters—even mature Koreans manage to maintain this dewy glow. So what’s behind the magic?

South Korean women spend twice as much of their income on skincare than women in the U.S., and men also invest far more in skincare products than anywhere else. This trend has empowered Korean skincare brands to innovate with formulations and products now replicated around the world. From novel ingredients like snail mucin and salmon sperm collagen to uber-hydrating sheet masks, Korean skincare has a viral, must-have quality. And once you’ve tried K-beauty, you’ll never want to go back.

Is Korean Skincare Cruelty Free?

K-beauty products have a reputation for being ethical as well as effective. This is thanks to South Korean law, which prohibits testing cosmetics on animals. However, some South Korean skincare brands will make an exception for products sold in mainland China, where animal testing is mandatory for skincare and beauty goods.

For this reason, products which are also available in Chinese stores cannot be considered truly cruelty-free, including the hugely popular Banila Co. Clean It Zero cleansing balm. Information on whether brands do employ animal testing overseas can be hard to come by. However, several well-known brands available in Japan are certified as completely cruelty-free.

10 Korean Skincare Brands You Can Find in Japan

Korean skincare brands are known for promoting skin care as self-care. Their products leave out the harsh cleansing and aggressive anti-aging ingredients favoured in the West, focusing instead on hydration, nourishment and gentle rejuvenation. A growing number of well-known brands are arriving on Japanese store shelves. Here are 10 of the best.

1. Beauty of Joseon

Beauty of Joseon is known for using traditional Korean ingredients, like ginseng and rice water, that have long been revered for their skin-nourishing properties. Their gentle formulations suit most skin types, and their prices will fit any skincare budget.

Cruelty Free? Yes
Star Product: Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun Rice + Probiotics (¥1,750)

2. COSRX

COSRX’s most popular products put buzzy ingredients front and centre. Quite literally in the case of their bee propolis range! But it’s the heavy-duty hydration of their snail mucin essence that users rave about the most.

Cruelty Free? Yes
Star Product: COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence (¥1,750)

3. Innisfree

Named after the poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree by W.B. Yeats, the ingredients from this brand come from South Korea’s own isle of beauty, the subtropical Jeju island. Ranges are based on key ingredients such as green tea, cherry blossom and volcanic stone, each one designed for a different skin type.

Cruelty Free? Yes
Star Product: Innisfree Green Tea Seed Hyaluronic Serum (¥3,410)

4. Biodance

Biodance’s overnight Real Deep Mask range takes sheet-masking to the next level. While you sleep, these opaque, gel-texture masks will turn clear as they deliver hydrating and plumping ingredients into the skin. You’ll wake up feeling brand new.

Cruelty Free? Yes
Star Product: Biodance Bio-Collagen Real Deep Mask (¥2,600)

5. VT Cosmetics

Probably the most widely available K-beauty brand in Japan, VT Cosmetics is known for its CICA range, featuring the soothing ingredient centella asiatica. But their hottest product is the VT Reedle Shot. Described as micro-needling in a bottle, tiny fragments of natural sponge puncture the skin so that the rest of your skincare ingredients can penetrate more deeply. It hurts, but it’s worth it!

Cruelty Free? Yes
Star Product: VT Cosmetics Reedle Shot S300 (¥3,750)

6. Mediheal

Mediheal specializes in sheet masks, worn for 15 to 20 minutes to give ingredients time to soak into the skin. Many of their masks are made of stretchy hydrogel, which adheres perfectly to any face shape and boosts their hydrating properties.

Cruelty Free? Unclear
Star Product: Mediheal Tea Tree Essential Mask (10 Sheets)(¥1,880)

7. Anua

Anua’s products balance natural and active ingredients for products that work even on sensitive skin. Their Heartleaf 77% Soothing Toner with hyaluronic acid is a favourite of users prone to flare-ups.

Cruelty Free? Unclear
Star Product: Anua Heartleaf 77% Soothing Toner (¥2,650)

8. Skinfood

As the name suggests, Skinfood makes delectable products using ingredients you might find in your kitchen cupboard. Their wash-off masks are extra nourishing, and the Black Sugar Mask can also be used as an exfoliator for a baby-faced glow.

Cruelty Free? Unclear
Star Product: Skinfood Black Sugar Mask Wash Off (¥1,800)

9. Ma:nyo

Real K-beauty aficionados know the most effective first step of a Korean skincare routine is a cleansing balm. The formula melts on your skin and dissolves all traces of makeup, sunscreen and sebum. Ma:nyo’s Pure Cleansing Balm is one of the best cruelty-free options available in Japan.

Cruelty Free? Yes
Star Product: ma:nyo Pure Cleansing Balm (¥2,640)

10. Medicube

Best known for their high-end beauty devices such as the Age-R Booster Pro, many of Medicube’s products are designed to complement their use. The uniquely textured Collagen Jelly Cream will glide perfectly under your skin-boosting gadget of choice.

Cruelty Free? Yes
Star Product: Medicube Collagen Jelly Cream (¥2,970)

Where To Buy Korean Skincare in Japan

Demand for K-beauty products is growing rapidly in Japan, and it’s becoming increasingly easy to find Korean skincare products outside of specialty stores. Here are a few places where you can shop for your next Korean skincare holy grail.

Loft

Lifestyle store Loft is one of the few Japanese chains with areas dedicated to K-beauty. While not signposted as such, you’ll typically find Korean skincare brands grouped together on the shop floor, making it easy to locate and browse for Korean products. They also sell K-beauty devices like the Medicube Age-R Booster Pro Mini.

Don Quixote

The ubiquitous Donki is probably the best place to get your hands on Korean skincare in Japan outside of Shin-Okubo. The sheer number of products crammed onto shelves means that you might have to look carefully to find any specific products you’re after, but you’ll absolutely be spoilt for choice.

Drug Stores

K-beauty enthusiasts will be able to spot genuine Korean products mixed in with Japanese dupes and competitors at drug stores like Matsumoto Kiyoshi. VT Cosmetics is one of the easiest brands to find, but as the popularity of K-beauty grows, the range of Korean brands stocked in Japanese drug stores is also expanding.

Convenience Stores

More and more convenience stores like Lawson and 7-Eleven are tapping into consumer demand for K-beauty products. While their selection is limited, they are often a great place to pick up sheet masks, particularly from brands like Anua and Mediheal.

Online

While there is a wealth of K-beauty to be found in Japan, plenty more celebrated brands and viral products haven’t quite hit Japanese shelves. For a more comprehensive Korean skincare shopping experience, head to online retailers like iHerb, YesStyle and Amazon.

Have you been shopping for Korean skincare products in Japan? Where did you find the best deals? Let us know in the comments!