Does anything beat a quick trip down your neighborhood beauty store? Just imagine the smell of Channel No. 5 or sampling the trending lipstick shades. What about browsing the aisles to discover your favorite foundation? What else can thrill a beautiful woman?

Well, you can enjoy visiting Tokyo's best beauty and skincare shops at any time of the year. Yes, Tokyo's specialist shops can help you look your very best. The shops have a wide range of beauty, health, and cosmetic products. Undoubtedly, Japan's skincare and beauty products are world-renowned. Their ooze efficacy, extensive range, and inventiveness. And they exhibit a cool design. Are you trying to find the perfect gift of a cute sheet mask? Do you wish to pamper yourself just a little? Swiftly arrange to visit Japan's popular specialist shops- you'll find them strewn all across town. You're certainly bound to discover whatever it is you want- ranging from skincare to bath and makeup. Indeed, you'll get all kinds of beauty products. Just visit one of these famous shops. But where exactly are these shops located. How can a visitor get there? That's precisely what we'd like to find out:

Botanist Tokyo: Botanist Tokyo is one of the city's best beauty spots. Visitors should not confuse Botanist Tokyo with the similar-name artisanal gin. The shop has a highly eco-friendly range of skincare and hair products. Most of these are prepared using plant-derived ingredients. Not only are these items kind to the environment, but they are also gentle enough to be used every day, especially by those with sensitive skin. And apart from their famous botanical treatments and shampoos, a visitor can sample an array of exciting items. These include body soaps, hand creams, fabric softeners, and room fragrances. All products feature the brand's signature natural fragrances. Some of these are green apple, musk, citrus, and rose.

Beauty Library Aoyama: True to its name, this is a highly organized city shop. It's an organic cosmetic shop that offers refined retail therapy in a calm atmosphere. As you arrive at the Beauty Library Aoyama, the attendants will welcome you with a free sample of herbal tea. You can get international brands, including Weleda and Shigeta. You won't miss domestic brands as well. Some of these are famous names like Naturaglace, Biolab, Hana Organic, and Chant a charm. While here, remember to visit the event space located right at the back. It always hosts an exciting roster of pop-ups and irregular workshops. These often feature some of Japan's and Tokyo's best and most respected beauty and skin care authorities. Further, the onsite cafes usually serve organic grub, including smoothies, salads, and herb tea.

Three Aoyama: Three Aoyama is discreetly tucked away in the Aoyama backstreets. This is much more than an ordinary beauty store. Moreover, the complex itself is basically home to a healthy eating restaurant (known as Revive Kitchen) and a luxurious spa. Here you can grab some gluten-free sweets, cold-pressed juices, and vegetarian lunch plates. Aoyoma is wildly loved for its trademark minimal packaging design. Further, the beauty range covers virtually everything a person can ever need. It doesn't matter whether your interest lies in makeup, skincare, hairstyling, or nail polish products- Three Aoyama has everyone well covered. And you'll surely love the shop's naturally-derived balancing lotion, fluid foundation and cleansing oil.

Fruit Gathering ( Jingumae, Shibuya-ku) : This is essentially a beauty-focused select shop that is renowned for housing some rare foreign brands. Among these are Bare Minerals and Makeup Forever. You'll also find the most popular Japanese brands here. Admittedly, you may find that the selection here is smaller. Nevertheless, it's generally well-curated and show-cased. The Fruit Gathering staff is certainly well-trained to help the customers identify the best fit for individual skin types and personal preferences. The shoppers are also free to make an appointment for an exciting half-hour blow-dry experience; yes, this can soothe the thirst for that extra pampering.

Skinholic: Skinholic is discreetly located in Okubo's Korea Town area. This is a fantastic one-stop-shop that offers some of the best Japanese and Korean skincare and beauty products. It stocks lesser-known but popular brands. Among these are Etude House, Tollly Molly, and others. While here, you can explore and compare various products from different brands. Remarkably, you can do this while walking under one roof; yes, you don't have to hop around Takeshita. You know that this is how many visitors usually do our first shopping for beauty products.

Did you know that Japanese addresses have no street names? Yes, most of Japan's streets generally do not have names. This is because Japan uses a different address system than that used in most Western countries. So, just imagine you're strolling through a certain city street. Since the street has no name, how are you ever going to get where you want? This might sound like a labyrinth of confusing nightmares- especially if you come from a Western land. However, this is how things work in Japan. Although most Japanese streets have no names, Japan uses a certain method to arrange things. It's only that the system may be that bit confusing to many people coming from other continents.

The book Planet Tokyo, A Geek in Japan, says: "To get us going, let's try to find out. First, Japanese addresses generally start with large divisions- the prefecture. Next, they are broken down into smaller cities. Further, some of the larger cities are also broken down into wards. For example, Tokyo city is made up of 23 wards. The areas are then divided into smaller districts. The smallest units are known as the Chrome. Hence, in Japan, a given address starts from the largest areas to the smallest. This is the exact difference with how the Western address system works. The biggest difference is that there's no such thing as a street name. Indeed, sometimes the Japanese address system is reversed to resemble the structure of a western address. Here's an example: 1-5-1, Yaesu, Chuo-ku, Tokyo.

In this example, Tokyo refers to the Prefecture, Chuo-ku stands for the ward, while Yaesu refers to the district within the city. The number "1" refers to the Chrome, while 5 refers to the number of the block. The last digit, "1" stands for the building number. So, that's how easy things are- all without ever mentioning a street name."

"While it all seems rather straightforward because each of these places in the address gets smaller and smaller, it can be a tricky business trying to zero in on a specific building number- why? Often the buildings may not be numbered like in the example supplied. Thus, it does seem like the area existing between the buildings in Japan is considered as nothing but a mere empty space. That's quite different from how the western address system works. Remember too, that these addresses would not be written in English; instead they have Japanese characters. This can make a simple trip turn out to be more challenging merely because many cannot read Japanese."

"In this state, the Japanese system for getting around a specific location within a city actually makes sense. It, however, requires much practice. To this end, it wouldn't hurt if a visitor makes some effort to learn Japanese."

Generally, US addresses and those of most other countries usually follow this arrangement: It starts with the street number, then the street name. The addresses start with a specified indicator, then the street number, followed by a street name (a broader indicator). To some, this may seem like a totally different intuitive system that is used to identify locations. Many would probably, not consider naming locations in any other way. Japan, however, names locations using a radically different method.

As noted, each area within a specific city is assigned a special neighborhood name. Specific streets then serve to create a block in the way shown above. Moreover, every block contains several buildings inside. In Japan, instead of the streets serving as identifiers (like in the US), the streets are used to create block numbers. Next, the block numbers are used to indicate different areas. Generally, the buildings in those specified areas are assigned numbers based upon the date they were built. Thus, most streets don't have street names. Most buildings are marked using signs that show the neighborhood first, then the block, and finally the building number. This means the signs start from broader locations, progressing gradually to specific locations.

Although the Japanese system may seem somewhat flawed, this system has some advantages. For instance, you can easily locate anything on a map reasonably quickly. If, for example, two streets intersected several times, it would cause some confusion using the western system of address. Why? It wouldn't be entirely clear the specific intersection being referred to. But with the Japanese system, one only has to identify the block he is in. Thus, it'd be much faster to pinpoint the place merely using a map.

The world was shocked- the first atomic bombs hit the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th, 1945. This marked the end of the World War; Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces in its aftermath. What was it like after the bomb dropped on Hiroshima? We can hardly imagine the aftermath of the atomic war assault on the beautiful Japanese city.

One of the most horrific tasks involved the collecting of dead bodies strewn all over the place. Also, the bodies had to be burned, and the rubble and debris collected. It was also necessary to survey and clear the much-ravaged 2.4 million square miles. This was a slow, painful process that took some four years to complete. Remarkably, the city of Hiroshima slowly and gradually returned to normalcy. So, what is it like visiting Hiroshima today?

Interestingly, decades after that fateful day in 1945, Hiroshima is now a beautiful, bustling city; it has resoundingly become a place where tourists love to visit. 1.1 million people live there. They enjoy a life that residents of New York, London and Paris would likely admire. Former Mayor of Hiroshima, Tadatoshi Akiba, who is an M.I T educated English speaking gentleman, once confessed that he was impressed with the efforts to build a brand new baseball stadium in 2005. The stadium would host the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, the city's proud baseball team. Hiroshima has several admirable stadiums, shipyards and automobile factories.

The architects had to rebuild a city that was virtually wiped off the world map in a literal sense. The city was to be rebuilt physically, emotionally and psychologically. Was there a guarantee that such a war-ravaged city would be restored to anything resembling a town? No! Hiroshima's return to normalcy was far from guaranteed. Naturally, the city's war survivors-in 1945- thought more about exacting vicious revenge than carrying out any rebuilding work. Of course, this wasn't surprising- the aftermath of the deadly atomic bombs had been intensely frustrating, devastating and seemingly irreversible. But those who had ";cooler heads"; eventually prevailed. Where would Hiroshima get the millions of dollars desperately needed for restoration purposes? Well, after much plea, Japan's occupation government finally permitted special subsidies to cities that had been badly damaged-like Hiroshima. The only requirement was a clear restoration plan.

Professor Norioki Ishimaru (of the Hiroshima International University) says Hiroshima's parliamentarians knew their demands would be granted with an ";accusing tone."; General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters in Tokyo had to be appeased before anything came from the occupation regime. So, the officials at Hiroshima came up with a grand idea to reinvent the city. There was a proposal to construct a large peace memorial; this would become the city's anchor. In the end, this became what we now know as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. The park is-essentially- a 30-acre site near ground zero.

Kenzo Tange, the late famous Japanese architect, designed the epic park. The park was eventually completed in 1954. The Peace Museum ultimately became the park's emotional nucleus. It was specifically dedicated as a memorial to the nuclear war's terrible horrors. In the course of a few years, the occupation government continued giving the city financial aid, aiding Hiroshima's psychological and economic recovery. Soon, the city residents could access jobs; this provided more emotional impetus.

Today, the Peace Museum is a fitting picture of how Japan dealt with its neighbours during and after the war. Further, it's a great symbol of remarkable progress, never mind that Japan hasn't been credited for this; yes, there's always hope lurking in the corner. While Japan continues to mourn its peoples who perished in the horrific 1945 war, the Peace Museum is a clear symbol that the country managed to make peace with its neighbours at some of its worst moments.

Think of it: 80-year-old Sunao Tsuboi knows what it was like to be counted as a survivor of the nuclear war horrors in 1945. At the end of the war, Tsuboi fell in love with a woman, but her parents refused to accept any marriage proposals; how could their daughter be married by an A-bomb survivor who might not live long? The lovers were desperate; both attempted suicide. Fortunately, they didn't die and were eventually married after the parent's ";ascertained"; Tsuboi would live longer.

You likely know Japan has many world-renowned historical sites. These include epic temples, parks and castles; yes, they are all there in this beautiful country. The country is also well-known for its special blend of the modern and ancient. This features modern technology, electric cars, and robot cafes. Do you love to delve into history and culture? Then you’ll probably marvel at Japan's many historic sites and tourist attractions. Japan has a long, complex and fascinating history; many are blown away by these elements. You can learn much about Japan by tracing the country’s ancient customs and traditions. Here are some of Japan’s most famous historical sites:

Kyoto Imperial Palace

This palace was, until 1868- the Japanese Imperial family’s home. From then, the authorities moved Japan’s capital city from Kyoto to Tokyo. Significantly, the Kyoto Imperial Palace remains a primary part of the larger Kyoto Imperial Park; it’s located right at the heart of Kyoto city. While around this place, make sure you visit the Sento Imperial Palace as well. As fate had it, the Kyoto Imperial Palace was burned down years later, but clever architects restored it recently (in 1855). The current complex is defined by gardens, numerous gates and a great hall. You can visit the Kyoto palace without booking earlier. Note, however, that visitors aren’t allowed to enter the building.

Kyoto Golden Pavilion

The Zen temple, located in Northern Kyoto, is renowned as one of Japan’s most photographed temples. At the same time, it’s among the most historically significant monuments. This makes the Kyoto Golden Pavilion rank among the worthiest places to visit in Japan. You might guess it from the very name ";Kyoto Golden Pavilion-"; (the temple is literally covered in gold leaf; it’s made up of three floors. The Kyoto Golden Pavilion is a renowned former retirement residence of Shogun Ashikaga. After Ashikaga’s death in 1408, the place was changed into a Zen temple. The temple’s structure was eventually taken through several rebuilding processes; its current structure was designed more recently in 1955. To access this place, you can use bus number 205 or 101 from the Kyoto station or travel to the Kitaoji Station through the Karasuma line. The pavilion overlooks a beautiful, well-endowed pond on the sidelines.

Meiji Jingu (Tokyo)

You’ll find the Meiji Shrine historical monument in Shibuya, Tokyo. The architects built this shrine in dedication to the spirits of Empress Shoken and Emperor Meiji. The latter (Emperor Meiji) is famously known for making sure Japan was opened up to the West. It’s among Tokyo’s most important Shinto shrines. The architects built the shrine on rusty, quiet land. It has a spacious park that spans 200 meters; the park is located behind a 12-meter tori gate; a visitor must pass through it to get to where the shrine is. Admission to this shrine is free- visitors will find the Meiji Shrine open anytime-from sunrise to sunset. You can also use the JR Yamanote line (on your way down to the Harajuku station) to get to the shrine.

Sensoji Temple (Tokyo)

Tokyo’s Sensoji’s Temple is renowned as the city’s oldest temple. Since Tokyo is so full of temples, it’s quite remarkable that the Sensoji Temple has existed for the last 1,500 years. The shrine hosts one of the largest souvenir markets in the city. It also hosts several attractive locations that draw hordes of tourists each year- among these is the famous Kaminarimon Gate. The temple is indispensable for tourists because of its cultural and historical significance; it offers excellent opportunities for sightseeing. If you ever visit Tokyo, make sure you don’t miss out on the tourist-loved Nakamise Shopping Street. It doesn’t take more than 17 minutes to ride a train from the Tokyo railway station to the precincts of the Sensoji Temple.

Kamakura

Kamakura is a beautiful seaside city located in the Kanagawa Prefecture; it takes an hour’s drive from Tokyo city to reach Kamakura. In the 12th century, Kamakura was recognized as Japan's political centre. And in the 14th century, when the city’s government collapsed, Kamakura remained steadfast as Eastern Japan’s major political centre. Well, the 14th-century story was a sharp contrast to the city we know today- a city that- although small- is ever filled with hundreds of tourists, an abundance of temples, shrines and historical monuments. Further, Kamakura’s sand beaches are famous as a crowd favourite, particularly during summer. While visiting the famous city, some top attractions include the Hokokuji Temple, the Great Buddha, Kenchoji Temple, the Zeniarai Benten, and the Hachimangu Shrine.