Beni Museum

Fantastic little museum of the lesser known art these days of Beni. Happily recommend to anyone with an interest in makeup and especially to those with an interest in Japanese makeup.

This is an interesting place to stop in, especially if one is interested in the history of dyes and/or makeup. The museum is small and mostly in Japanese though they hand out something in English. There is a salon where you can drink tea and try the beni lipstick if you so care to (I did not for lack of time and the basic fact that I do not want lipstick). The process and the product seems fascinating, however. Green iridiscent till it touches water, then turns bright red. Sold in little porcelain cups.

This is a fascinating little museum that is completely free of charge. It is run by the sole remaining maker of a type of traditional Japanese lipstick called "beni" used widely in the Edo period. This lipstick has a very important place in the history of Japanese fashion, so it is well worth dropping in to learn about it. The museum is near the Nezu Museum and the Okamoto Taro Memorial Museum - about 6-8 minutes walking from either to the south/east - so if you are already in the area it would be easy to stop by. The museum is small, so you could easily walk through in 20 minutes and still really enjoy it. The front part is a small shop where this lipstick is sold (at a high price and rightfully so based on the difficulty of producing it) and the rear section is the museum itself, which is a medium-sized room filled with beautiful, high-quality exhibits. The exhibits are in Japanese, but the staff will gladly give you a laminated pamphlet with excellent English translations of all of the displays. They also have a sample pot of the lipstick available to show you how it works (even if you are not buying anything). This is a great little museum, absolutely worth adding to your itinerary if you are visiting the Omotesando area.

Closed and dismissed saturday 31st august without any communication on web. Bad Bad Bad

I wasn't interested in makeup in the Edo period, but I was surprised to find the real Ranbiki when I got into it. In the explanation, it is used in aromatherapy! However, I thought it was a device that distills alcohol and makes alcohol for disinfection, just like it came out in Jin! Other exhibits are small, but it was fun.