IN the ten years since TIME first led a group of U.S. business executives through the industrial capitals of Europe and on to Moscow, our News Tours have become a thriving institution. Designed to foster greater international understanding and communication, TIME tours have taken U.S. businessmen abroad -- and have brought their foreign counterparts to the U.S. -- to talk and trade views with leading economic and political figures. This month we played guide once again as 27 of Japan's leading executives arrived in the U.S. for a cross-country look at one of Japan's biggest customers -- and competitors.

Accompanied by representatives from TIME, the group jet-hopped from coast to coast, visiting members of the U.S. Government, industry and the academic community. Their crowded schedule included meetings in California with Harvard Professor and former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin Reischauer and with Stanford Business School Dean Arjay Miller, a seminar in Phoenix on the problems of pollution, and a tour in Houston of NASA space facilities. In Detroit the visitors listened to a critique of U.S. foreign policy by former Under Secretary of State George Ball, then talked with Ford Motor Co. Chairman Henry Ford II and President Lee Iacocca. Moving on to Washington, D.C., they discussed trade and politics with Senator Hubert Humphrey (see cut), Congressman Wilbur Mills, representatives from the Administration and union officials. Eight days after its start, the official visit ended in Manhattan where, after meeting with TIME editors, the Japanese visitors rose to sing the hymn God Be with You till We Meet Again.

CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS: Yuzuru Abe, Nippon Steel Corp.; Tadashi Arita, The Fuji Bank, Ltd.; Tatsuro Goto, Mitsui & Co., Ltd.; Nobuya Hagura, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank; Akira Harada, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.; Shoji Kambara, Ricoh Co., Ltd.; Kiyoshi Kawashima, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.; Kaoru Kobayashi, Institute of Business Administration and Management; Kazutoyo Komatsu, Trio Electronics, Inc.; Tatsuya Komatsu, Simul International, Inc.; Masao Kunihiro, Kokusai Shoka College; Teiji Makikawa, Fujitsu Ltd.; Isao Makino, Toyota Motor Sales Co., Ltd.; Jiro Mayekawa, Teijin Ltd.; Yohei Mimura, Mitsubishi Corp.; Masafumi Misu, Hitachi, Ltd.; Rihei Nagano, Kubota, Ltd.; Yoshio Narita, Yamaichi Securities Co., Ltd.; Yoshiro Neo, Sumitomo Shoji Kaisha, Ltd.; Saburo Oyama, Nippon Electric Co., Ltd.; Kazuo Saitoh, Sharp Corp.; Keizo Saji, Suntory Ltd.; Yutaka Sugi, Nippon Kogaku K.K.; Tomejiro Tanaka, Marubeni Corp.; Kazuo Ueda, Minolta Camera, Ltd.; Hiroko Yokoyama, Simul International, Inc.; Noboru Yoshii, Sony Corp.

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