This chronology is the fifth in a series of publications on comparative food cultures.

This particular installment will cover part of the Showa era from 1961 to 1988. Previously, the authors have examined Japanese food culture in the period between the Jomon and Azuchi-Momoyama eras, as well as the Edo, Meiji, Taisyo, and Showa eras (specifically, the part of the Showa period from 1926 to 1960).

The year 1988 marks a clear cutoff in food culture phenomena in terms of such events having a lasting influence on later generations of Japanese food culture; mirroring that endpoint, this chronology also stops in the same year. The authors have only recorded food culture phenomena lasting for approximately a quarter of a century. Incidentally, 1988 also marks the end of the Showa era.

The authors have compiled information on 408 chronological items from 222 sources, including 48 print publications and 174 electronic publications. Food culture phenomena are classified in this chronology in the same manner as previous papers in this series.