@63 days until Hiroshima Summit: Yogurt
Mar. 17, 2023
by Yoshinori Masatsuna, Staff Writer
It was in Hiroshima that the first yogurt in Japan was produced. Chichiyasu Co., Ltd., based in the city of Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, was founded in 1886 when it opened a farm in what is now the Naka Ward of Hiroshima. The company put its yogurt on the market in 1917. Yogurt was a luxury item in those days. In 1923, sales of yogurt were suspended after a fire broke out at its farm and warehouse in present-day Ono, Hatsukaichi. During the war, its farm was put under the control of the Imperial Japanese Army Shipping Command (Akatsuki Unit). Also, as part of the farm was turned into fields, the company could not make yogurt.
After the war, the company reestablished its production structure and resumed sales in 1954. It has been improving the taste so people would like to eat its yogurt every day, and now produces 21,000 tons a year. It is more than 100 years since the company was founded, and now it distributes its products nationwide. June 1, 2018, the day of the company’s founding, was registered as Chibo Day after the name of the company’s mascot by the Japan Anniversary Association.
(Originally published on March 17, 2023)
It was in Hiroshima that the first yogurt in Japan was produced. Chichiyasu Co., Ltd., based in the city of Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, was founded in 1886 when it opened a farm in what is now the Naka Ward of Hiroshima. The company put its yogurt on the market in 1917. Yogurt was a luxury item in those days. In 1923, sales of yogurt were suspended after a fire broke out at its farm and warehouse in present-day Ono, Hatsukaichi. During the war, its farm was put under the control of the Imperial Japanese Army Shipping Command (Akatsuki Unit). Also, as part of the farm was turned into fields, the company could not make yogurt.
After the war, the company reestablished its production structure and resumed sales in 1954. It has been improving the taste so people would like to eat its yogurt every day, and now produces 21,000 tons a year. It is more than 100 years since the company was founded, and now it distributes its products nationwide. June 1, 2018, the day of the company’s founding, was registered as Chibo Day after the name of the company’s mascot by the Japan Anniversary Association.
(Originally published on March 17, 2023)
