A Letter From The Publisher: Feb. 23, 1962

FOR its cover story on a Japanese businessman. TIME asked the celebrated Japanese artist Nampu Katayama to paint the portrait. An academy “immortal” at 74, Katayama had never done a commission for a foreign publication before. The negotiations, at his home in a bamboo grove on the outskirts of Tokyo, were delicate and cordial, though his lively wife broke in at one point: “Don’t you ever believe him when he says he can meet your deadline. For one portrait he was behind for one whole year.” Katayama delivered on time, wearing a pleased and mischievous smile.

To paint, Katayama kneels in Japanese style, with his feet tucked under, uses an ink of rock pigment, and brushes of wool or badger hair. It was the eyes of Industrialist Matsushita that most fascinated the artist, who found them at once serene and alert. “Eyes are the mirror of every human.” says Katayama.

When Matsushita was told that he would be on TIME’s cover. Tokyo Bureau Chief Don Connery warned him that the story must be critical as well as comprehensive. “Explore and analyze the economy and my company like a surgeon with a knife.” Matsushita answered. “Wield your knife as you wish.” The exploration on the spot was done by Connery; the story was written by Everett Martin and edited by Robert Christopher.

BACK in 1951. TIME took a well-researched look at the prevailing mood on the nation’s campuses, and in its report gave first currency to an expression that summed it up: the Silent Generation. Since then, we have tried to keep up with shifting campus attitudes. In 1957 we reported on the “nononsense kids.” Last year it was the rise of the campus conservatives. This week’s Education section tells of a growing campus urge to follow causes—peace picketing, Freedom Riders —and a more equal campus balance between liberals and conservatives.

TIME’s interest in undergraduates, we are happy to report, is well reciprocated. Their curiosity to know and understand the news has given TIME the largest college subscription of any U.S. magazine. In just five years, student subscriptions have increased 81%, and a recent survey estimates that 42% of all college students read TIME. In addition to their interest in national and international affairs, our “back of the book” seems to have special appeal. One college administrator tells us: “Often TIME is the layman’s only source of up-to-the-minute information in areas such as medicine—and with TIME’s perceptive reviews of books, music, theater and art, what you have in effect is a big ‘little magazine.’ ” The interest keeps up after college: not long ago, 32 colleges, ranging from Notre Dame to Vassar, surveyed their own alumni of the past 30 years. We were happy to find TIME named most often as the magazine read most and most preferred.

By 1980, one out of every ten U.S. adults will be a college graduate. Since 78% of all TIME subscribers are college educated (in 1940, only 69.6% had been to college), we look forward to growing along with the record college enrollments.