The Fifth Generation Computer Systems (FGCS) was a landmark 10-year research initiative launched in 1982 by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). Its ambitious goal was to develop computers based on massively parallel computing and logic programming, envisioning an "epoch-making computer" with supercomputer-like performance to advance artificial intelligence. The term "fifth generation" signified a departure from previous hardware generations—which had evolved from vacuum tubes, transistors, and integrated circuits to microprocessors—by emphasizing performance through massive numbers of interconnected CPUs rather than increasing the density of logic elements within a single processor. While ahead of its time and ultimately a commercial failure, the FGCS project significantly contributed to the theoretical development of concurrent logic programming.

Japan's motivation for the FGCS project was rooted in its aspiration to become a global leader in information technology, moving beyond its historical role of following Western technological leads. By the late 1970s, MITI identified IT as the future, recognizing that the inherent complexities of processing the Japanese language digitally presented unique challenges that could be overcome through advanced computing solutions. This led to the establishment of the Institute for New Generation Computer Technology (ICOT) in 1982, a joint venture between the government and various Japanese computer companies. The project set incredibly ambitious performance targets, aiming to build machines capable of 100 million to 1 billion Logical Inferences Per Second (LIPS), a monumental leap from the approximately 100,000 LIPS achievable by typical workstations of that era. The plan involved a structured decade of R&D, subsystem development, and the creation of a working prototype, all centered on using logic programming languages to manage vast databases through parallel processing.