Yakult began with the passion of Dr. Minoru Shirota, a doctor of medicine and a researcher who aspired to advance preventive medicine, which aims to help people avoid sickness.

In 1930, Dr. Minoru Shirota succeeded in strengthening and culturing a strain of lactic acid bacteria that can survive digestive juices, such as gastric fluid and bile, reach the intestines alive, and produce beneficial effects. This strain is now known as Lactobaicillus casei strain Shirota named after Dr. Shirota himself. In 1935, Yakult was manufactured & sold in Japan.

Yakult Honsha Co. Ltd was established in Tokyo, Japan in the year 1955 and the first research institute was established in Kyoto, Japan during the same year.

Yakult Central Institute was established in the year 1967 in Tokyo. All major research & developmental activities in the field of Probiotics are carried each day by hundreds of scientists working there. After a major renovation, the Institute got its new face in 2015.

Dr. Shirota proposed three ideas, including “preventive medicine;” “a healthy intestinal tract leads to a long life,” which stresses that strengthening the intestines, the place where nutrients are absorbed into the body, leads to a health and long life; and “a price anyone can afford.” We call these ideas ‘Shirota-ism’ and they serve as the root of all our business activities.