Updated 27 August 2026
The most common question in my inbox is not about wrinkles or sunscreen. It is a version of this: what exactly is in this, and does it contain alcohol or anything from an animal? Most of those messages now arrive from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Gulf, and they are almost always polite, specific, and asking for something I cannot give — a yes or a no.
Here is why. Not one product in my shop carries a halal certificate; Japanese domestic cosmetics are almost never certified, for reasons I will explain below. I am also not a religious authority. The schools of thought differ genuinely on cosmetic ethanol, and that conversation belongs with someone you trust, not with a shopkeeper in Kobe.
What I can do is the part I am qualified for: read the label with you. I live in Japan and hold these boxes in my hands, so I can tell you what the manufacturers publish and — just as importantly — what they do not.
The three things people are actually looking for
Almost every ingredient question I get is one of three, and they behave very differently on a label.
1. Alcohol and ethanol
On an ingredient list the word you want is Ethanol, or simply Alcohol, or Alcohol Denat. All three mean the same family of molecule — the drinking kind, used in cosmetics as a solvent and a quick-dry agent. Isopropanol is a different alcohol that nobody drinks, but it sits in the same mental category for most people asking.
The trap is the word "alcohol" attached to something else entirely. Cetyl alcohol, cetanol, stearyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol and behenyl alcohol are fatty alcohols: waxy solids derived from oils, used to thicken creams and conditioners. They share a suffix with ethanol and nothing else — they do not evaporate, they do not sting, and they are not what you are scanning for.
You can see both on one real label. My TSUBAKI Premium Repair Hair Mask lists Stearyl Alcohol and Cetanol — the waxes — and then, further down, Isopropanol and Ethanol. Four words with "alcohol" logic in them, two completely different situations.
How different schools treat cosmetic ethanol is a live question, and I am not going to summarize it or pick a side. Take the ingredient name to whoever you ask about these things. My job ends at telling you it is there.
2. Animal-derived ingredients
This is the longer list, and the one Japanese marketing copy is least helpful about. The ones that actually turn up on cards in my shop:
- Placenta extract — animal in origin, and extremely common here. The Kose Clear Turn White Placenta mask is built on it.
- Royal jelly extract — a bee product. It is in the TSUBAKI Premium Repair mask.
- Hydrolyzed conchiolin — sold as "pearl protein", which sounds botanical and is not. It is a protein taken from pearl-oyster shell. Also in that mask.
- Collagen — fish, porcine or bovine. The source is usually printed nowhere.
- Gelatin — animal collagen; mostly a supplement and capsule issue rather than a skincare one.
Gelatin is the one case in my catalog where a Japanese brand spells it out. Meiji Amino Collagen declares its allergens plainly: milk, orange, soybean and gelatin (fish), and says outright that it is not suitable for vegans or vegetarians. That is the kind of disclosure I wish were normal. It is not.
One name I want to raise and set down: carmine, the red colorant made from cochineal insects. I checked the cards for every product in this article and did not find it on any of them — the TSUBAKI mask uses synthetic Red 227 and Yellow 4 instead. I am not telling you carmine is absent from Japanese cosmetics generally, only that I did not find it on these cards — and where a card publishes no complete list, its absence cannot be confirmed either.
Then there is glycerin: plant-derived or animal-derived, in almost everything, and Japanese brands essentially never state which. The Tsubaki Oil Perfection card says so in as many words — the glycerin source, plant versus animal, is not specified by the brand. If you need certainty on glycerin you need certification, and we are back to the thing nobody in this market has.
3. Fragrance and hidden allergens
The Japanese label word is 香料, printed in English as Fragrance or Parfum. It is one line that can conceal dozens of components, and the composition is proprietary — brands do not publish it and I cannot obtain it. That matters twice over: fragrance compounds are frequently carried in ethanol, and fragrance is the most common trigger behind the reactions people write to me about.
Two concrete cases. Tsubaki Oil Perfection contains Parfum and BHT, an antioxidant a minority of people react to. The Melano CC Anti-Spot Whitening Lotion contains Fragrance, Menthol and citrus fruit extracts.
Why the Japanese package will not tell you this
Everything I stock is Japanese domestic stock — that is the point of buying from Japan rather than from an export line, and it is also why the box in your hands is unhelpful. The ingredient panel is printed in Japanese, katakana for the borrowed chemical names and kanji for the rest, and on most products there is no Latin transliteration anywhere on the carton. An ingredient list you cannot read is not a disclosure.
The second complication is regulatory. Japan splits these goods into ordinary cosmetics (化粧品) and quasi-drugs (医薬部外品). A quasi-drug lists its approved actives separately from everything else, which is why Melano CC's card names two "actives" and then gives a second, longer list underneath. Sensible for a Japanese pharmacist, confusing for everyone else.
Third, and most frustrating: many brands publish only headline ingredients online. Hada Labo Gokujyun Lotion is the polite version — Rohto publishes four hyaluronic acids and a set of free-from statements, but no complete list online. Kose Clear Turn Collagen is the harder version: the card names collagen and provitamin B5, says the complete list is on the Japanese box, and states that whether the collagen is marine or porcine is not specified. I could guess. I would rather tell you I don't know.
So what do you do? Ask before you order. Name the product and I will photograph the ingredient panel on the real box and translate it. It takes a day, costs nothing, and is a better basis for a decision than any article — including this one.
How to read it: a practical cheat sheet
These are the terms that appear on the products in this article, in the form you will meet them.
| On the Japanese box | INCI / Latin | What it actually is |
|---|---|---|
| エタノール | Ethanol / Alcohol | Drinking-type alcohol, used as solvent and quick-dry agent |
| イソプロパノール | Isopropanol | A different solvent alcohol; not a drinking alcohol |
| セタノール | Cetanol / Cetyl Alcohol | Fatty alcohol — a wax that thickens creams. Not ethanol |
| ステアリルアルコール | Stearyl Alcohol | Fatty alcohol, same category as above. Not ethanol |
| アルコールフリー | Alcohol-free | A free-from claim; in Japan it means no ethanol |
| 香料 | Fragrance / Parfum | Proprietary blend; composition not published |
| 無香料 | Fragrance-free | A free-from claim, usually printed on the front of the box |
| プラセンタエキス | Placenta Extract | Animal-derived; source species usually unstated |
| ローヤルゼリーエキス | Royal Jelly Extract | A bee product |
| 加水分解コンキオリン | Hydrolyzed Conchiolin | Protein from pearl-oyster shell, marketed as "pearl protein" |
| 加水分解コラーゲン | Hydrolyzed Collagen | Fish, porcine or bovine; source usually unstated |
| ゼラチン | Gelatin | Animal collagen; Meiji declares fish gelatin as an allergen |
| 医薬部外品 | Quasi-drug | Regulatory category — actives are listed separately from the rest |
Examples from my own catalog
Three products whose labels come out clean, three that carry something you may want to avoid. The symmetry is deliberate: this is a reading exercise, not a shopping section.
Oshima Tsubaki Camellia Oil, 40 ml — one ingredient, no argument
Oshima Tsubaki is the shortest label in my shop: 100% Camellia japonica seed oil, cold-pressed, and nothing else. No fragrance, no dye, no additive, no preservative — which is also why it oxidizes and should be used within six to twelve months of opening.
No ethanol, because there is no water phase to dissolve anything into. No animal ingredient, because there is one ingredient and it is a seed. What there is not is a certificate. If your standard is "I can read the whole formula in four words", this passes; if your standard is third-party certification, it does not. More detail in my camellia oil guide.
Hada Labo Gokujyun Hyaluronic Lotion, 170 ml — the free-from statement
Rohto states that Gokujyun contains no fragrance, no colorant, no mineral oil, no ethanol and no paraben. That is a manufacturer statement about a defined list, made by a large pharmaceutical company that would be in trouble if it were wrong, and it is why this is the toner I hand to anyone with reactive skin.
But notice the shape of the claim: it says what is absent from a list, not what the whole formula is. Rohto publishes no complete list online — the full one is on the bottle. So on animal-derived content I have to say I don't know. Where it sits in the wider category is in my best Japanese toners guide.
Minon Amino Moist sheet mask — the full list, published
Minon Amino Moist, from Daiichi Sankyo Healthcare, publishes its complete ingredient list on the card in Latin script, so you can read the whole formula right now. Fragrance-free, alcohol-free, paraben-free, dye-free, patch-tested for sensitive skin — and you can check that against the list rather than taking it on faith.
Read it and you find water, amino acids, glycerin, hyaluronate, a few emulsifiers and preservatives. Nothing named for an animal. I still will not call it vegan, because glycerin is on the list and nobody states where glycerin comes from.
Melano CC Anti-Spot Whitening Lotion — alcohol is in the base
Now the other side. Melano CC's toner lists Alcohol third, after water and butylene glycol, which tells you it is a meaningful part of the formula rather than a trace. The card describes the base as alcohol-based, and its own FAQ says a slight tingle from the ethanol is normal alongside the cooling from menthol.
It also contains Fragrance, Menthol and lemon and grapefruit extracts, and the card advises against it for very dry, eczema-prone or rosacea-prone skin. None of this is hidden — Rohto publishes the full list and the warning.
TSUBAKI Premium Repair Hair Mask, 180 g — bee, shellfish and two alcohols
The mask I used earlier as a teaching example is the densest case in my catalog. Its published list contains royal jelly extract (bee), hydrolyzed conchiolin (pearl-oyster shell), soybean seed extract, ethanol, isopropanol, fragrance and two colorants, Red 227 and Yellow 4.
Fine Today publishes all of it, which I respect. The card states plainly that the product contains animal-derived ingredients, is not suitable for vegans, and carries no halal certification. With a bee, soy or shellfish allergy it is a straightforward no on medical grounds alone.
Kose Clear Turn White Placenta — an animal ingredient named on the front
Some products tell you in the name. Placenta extract is animal in origin, and Kose's card says so directly, including the caution that it is not suitable for anyone requiring halal-certified cosmetics or avoiding animal-derived ingredients.
What the card cannot tell you is which animal. Placenta extract in Japanese cosmetics is typically porcine or equine, and Kose does not publicly specify — so I won't either. Wider context is in my guide to Japanese placenta products, and the parallel sourcing questions in my Japanese collagen guide.
On certification: what I do not have
Let me be as clear as I know how. Nothing in my shop is halal certified. Not the pure camellia oil, not the fragrance-free toner, not the sheet masks. I will never describe a product as halal, and if you see that word used loosely by a Japanese-goods reseller, treat it as a reason for more questions rather than fewer.
The reason is structural rather than sinister. Certification is granted per facility and often per production run, and it costs real money and administrative effort. Japanese manufacturers make for a domestic market where essentially nobody asks for it, so essentially nobody pursues it. A handful of companies certify export lines; the drugstore stock I buy in Kobe is not that stock. Absence here means "nobody applied", not "something was hidden".
What I offer instead is not a substitute, and I won't pretend it is: before you order, ask me for the ingredient panel. Write to support@tsujimotomarket.com naming the product. I will photograph the actual Japanese box from the batch I hold and translate the list. Then you have real information, in a language you read, and you can take it to whoever you ask about these matters. That decision is yours and theirs, not mine.
Frequently asked questions
Are any of your products halal certified?
No. Nothing in the shop carries halal certification. Japanese domestic cosmetics are very rarely certified, because the domestic market does not ask for it and certification is granted per facility and per production run. I will not describe any product as halal. I will send you the full ingredient panel from the actual box before you order.
Does "alcohol-free" on a Japanese product mean there is no alcohol at all?
In Japanese labeling, an alcohol-free claim means no ethanol. It does not mean the formula contains no fatty alcohols such as cetyl or stearyl alcohol, which are waxes and are not what the claim is about. Read it as a statement about ethanol specifically.
Is cetyl alcohol the same as ethanol?
No. Cetyl alcohol, cetanol, stearyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol and behenyl alcohol are fatty alcohols — waxy solids derived from oils, used to thicken creams and conditioners. They do not evaporate and do not behave like ethanol. The TSUBAKI Premium Repair mask lists both kinds on one label.
Which products in your shop have no alcohol and no animal ingredients?
The pure Oshima Tsubaki camellia oil is a single plant ingredient, so it contains neither. Minon Amino Moist publishes a full list that is alcohol-free and contains nothing named for an animal. Hada Labo Gokujyun is stated by Rohto to contain no ethanol, but Rohto publishes no complete list, so I cannot make the animal-ingredient claim for it. None of the three is certified.
How do I know where the collagen or the glycerin came from?
Usually you cannot, and this is the honest weak point of the whole exercise. Collagen may be fish, porcine or bovine; glycerin may be plant or animal, and Japanese brands overwhelmingly state neither. Meiji Amino Collagen is a rare exception, declaring fish gelatin as an allergen. Where the source is not stated, I say so rather than guess.
Can you send me the ingredient list before I order?
Yes, and I would rather you asked. Email support@tsujimotomarket.com naming the product. I will photograph the ingredient panel on the real Japanese box from the stock I hold in Kobe and translate it. It usually takes a day.
Are placenta and royal jelly always animal-derived?
Placenta extract in cosmetics is animal in origin, and Japanese products typically use porcine or equine sources, though brands rarely specify which. Royal jelly is a bee product and therefore also animal-derived. Hydrolyzed conchiolin, marketed as pearl protein, is a protein from pearl-oyster shell. All three appear on cards in my shop, named rather than hidden.
Where to start
If you take one habit from this, make it the boring one: read the ingredient panel before the marketing copy, and treat a missing list as missing information rather than as reassurance. Japanese cosmetics are, in my experience, unusually well made and unusually badly explained to anyone who does not read Japanese.
To browse with this in mind: the Japanese skincare collection is the widest starting point, the Japanese toner lotion range is where the alcohol question comes up most, and the Japanese face masks section is where the animal-derived question does. If something is unclear, write to me — I would rather answer forty emails and lose a sale than sell you something you would not have bought if you could read the box.
Natalia Tsujimoto has been in Japan since 2002, sourcing Japanese cosmetics from Kobe for Tsujimoto Market since 2015. Every product named here is one she stocks and ships herself.