This study aims to clarify how milk and dairy products penetrated the dietary habits of Japanese citizens through analysis of newspaper advertisements from the late 19th century through the 20th century、and reports those results with an especially detailed analysis on milk. The number of advertisements for milk and dairy products published in the morning issue of Asahi Shimbun were tabulated based on records in the newspaper’s digital archive “Kikuzo II” Tokyo edition (collected from 1879 to 1999) and classified by product and page size.

From 1888 to 1939、in contrast to the rate of 300–400 advertisements placed for condensed milk every ten years、the 1920s saw the number of advertisements for powdered milk increase rapidly to about 600、and milk advertisements rose sharply to about 1000 in the 1930s. Analysis of a combination of data on advertising content and changes in consumption suggests that the demand for milk and other dairy products did not expand simultaneously during this fifty-year period、but rather spread gradually among consumers in the order of condensed milk、milk powder、and milk、as a result of technical and quantitative improvements in the supply system among domestic and overseas producers and more ready acceptance of these products among consumers.

In the case of milk、in the approximately 30 years from 1912 to the pre-war period、we see a process over four phases in which the perception presented to consumers transformed from unsanitary food product to safe and highly nutritious item.