With the release of the covers album "Rock and Roll" in February 1975, Lennon planned to produce an album of new songs before his recording contract with EMI/Capital, which had lasted nine years since 1967, expired.
However, Yoko Ono, with whom he had reconciled at the end of the previous year, became pregnant, and he decided to release a compilation album of his past works.
Unlike other Beatles compilation albums released at the same time under the initiative of record companies, Lennon himself supervised the recording, song order, album name, jacket and inner sleeve design, and other aspects of the album.
Therefore, the album is structured like a concept album, beginning and ending with "Peace to Us".
The album jacket, designed by Roy Kohara, features 11 images of the songs by Michael Bryan and the album title with the Japanese flag on the front, and "katsuobushi" (dried bonito flakes) on the back, which was the basis of the title.
On the lower right corner of the reverse side is a message by Dr. Winston O'Boogie, "Conspiracy of silence speaks louder than words. The message is written by Dr. Winston O'Boogie.
The front of the inner sleeve is printed with "Hinomaru" (Japanese flag), and the lyrics of the songs are printed on a red background on the back of the sleeve.
Note that some of the lyrics on the sleeve are clearly different from the actual lyrics.
After the release of this album, Lennon declared himself a "househusband" and stopped his musical activities to concentrate on raising his son Sean.
As such, he showed no interest in renewing his recording contract with EMI/Capitol, which expired in February 1976, and he did not sign with another record company until 1980, when he released the album Double Fantasy.
The album is subtitled "John Lennon's Trail "in Japan.