K-beauty claimed the top spot in Japan’s imported cosmetics market again in 2025, marking its fourth consecutive year at No. 1. Although growth slowed, the gap with second-place France widened from the previous year.
According to 2025 annual cosmetics import data released by the Cosmetics Importers Association of Japan (CIAJ), imports of cosmetics from Korea totaled 141.77 billion yen (approximately $910 million). This accounted for 30.8 percent of Japan’s total cosmetics imports. K-beauty’s market share rose 0.5 percentage points year-on-year. However, the growth rate of Korean cosmetics imports sharply declined from 40 percent in 2024 to 5.6 percent in 2025. This was largely due to a significant slowdown in Japan’s overall cosmetics import growth, which fell from 17.7 percent in 2024 to 3.1 percent in 2025.
The market share gap with second-place France widened to 8 percent, up 2.1 percentage points from a year earlier. Imports of French products totaled 104.86 billion yen, representing a 22.8 percent share. France recorded declines in both market share (minus 1.6 percentage points) and import growth (minus 3.2 percent).
K-beauty posted balanced growth in both skincare and color makeup categories. Total skincare imports rose 2.2 percent year-on-year to 204.94 billion yen. Of this, Korean products accounted for 88.75 billion yen, representing 43.3 percent of the total. Korea was the only country among the top three to record an increase in imports from the previous year, with a growth rate of 1.9 percent.
Second-place France recorded 49.95 billion yen, down 6.1 percent year-on-year, while third-place the U.S. posted 16.86 billion yen, down 12.9 percent. Fourth-place China and fifth-place Italy posted strong growth rates of 28.9 percent and 24.0 percent, respectively, but their import volumes — 9.3 billion yen and 8.4 billion yen — were about one-tenth of Korea’s total.
K-beauty color makeup imports grew year-on-year despite an overall market slowdown. Total color makeup imports stood at 70.94 billion yen, down 2.02 billion yen from the previous year. As in skincare, Korea was the only country among the top players to record growth.
Color makeup imports from Korea rose 8.3 percent year-on-year to 29.54 billion yen. During the same period, France’s color makeup imports fell 13.8 percent to 15.5 billion yen, while China’s declined 14.2 percent to 11.66 billion yen (approximately 108.9 billion won). Imports from the top three countries — Korea, France and China — accounted for about 80 percent of total color makeup imports. Fourth-place Italy posted strong growth of 29.5 percent.
By product category, only lipsticks recorded year-on-year growth. Total lipstick imports rose 4.3 percent to 40.35 billion yen. Of this, Korean products accounted for 29.54 billion yen, up 8.3 percent year-on-year. Second-place France fell 21.7 percent to 9.76 billion yen, while third-place Italy (3.54 billion yen) surged 140.8 percent. Fourth-place China declined 27.5 percent to 2.19 billion yen.
Eye makeup imports declined in all countries except third-place France. First-place Korea fell 14.8 percent year-on-year to 6.96 billion yen, while second-place China dropped 15.3 percent to 4.72 billion yen. Third-place France increased 10.2 percent to 4.23 billion yen. Fourth-place the United States declined 21.1 percent to 3.1 billion yen.
Growth continued in the haircare segment, long considered a weakness for K-beauty. In imported haircare, Thailand maintained first place with 28.92 billion yen, accounting for 46.9 percent of the total 61.6 billion yen. Korea ranked third in shampoo, hair conditioner and hair styling products with 5.4 billion yen, up 10.1 percent year-on-year. This contrasted with France, which fell 4.3 percent to 5.5 billion yen, and the U.S., which declined 10 percent to 4.96 billion yen.
However, K-beauty’s presence remained minimal in the fragrance segment. Total imports of perfumes and eau de cologne reached 52.91 billion yen, up 11.3 percent year-on-year — a faster growth rate than other categories — but Korea once again failed to enter the rankings. France remained the dominant leader, posting 33.13 billion yen, up 8.6 percent year-on-year, and accounting for 62.6 percent of the market. The U.S. and Italy ranked second and third with 2.58 billion yen and 3.6 billion yen, respectively. The U.S. drew attention with a sharp 50.8 percent growth rate.
