Journalists are taught to cover all sides of a story, but rarely can they do it as thoroughly as TIME'S Edwin Reingold. From 1969 to 1971, he was Tokyo bureau chief, chronicling the early days of Japan's economic boom. He was reassigned as chief of our Detroit bureau in 1971, just when fuel-efficient Japanese cars were beginning to vex U.S. automakers. Returning to head the Tokyo bureau in 1978, he found Japan's economy in full flower. Reingold's split-screen perspective on the U.S. and Japan proved to be invaluable in reporting this week's cover story. Says he: "Since auto imports are the major focus of contention between the two great trading partners now, comparing how things are done Chang, Reingold and Iwama in Tokyo here and in the U.S. has become something of a journalistic preoccupation."

For Correspondents S. Chang and Frank Iwama, working on a cover story with Reingold was just like old times. The three collaborated on three covers during Reingold's first stint in Japan. This time Chang spent two days at the Matsushita Co. in Osaka and visited a Honda manufacturing plant in Marysville, Ohio. He was struck by how the Japanese cling to their cultural past. Says Chang: "For all its Western facade, Japan remains essentially Eastern." Iwama, who joined the Tokyo bureau in 1949, interviewed Japanese business executives for this week's story. Says he: "They used to poor-mouth their economy, but after surviving the international turbulence of the 1970s, they are proud of Japan's economic resilience."

In New York, Reporter-Researcher Robert Grieves met with Japanese businessmen and Japan scholars. Grieves, who studied Asian history at Hamilton College and Columbia University before coming to TIME in 1979, was impressed by the businessmen's polite and meticulous ways. Says Grieves: "When I talked to a Japanese executive, he usually had an assistant there to handle all the details." The cover story was edited by Senior Editor George Taber and written by Associate Editor Christopher Byron. Says Byron: "The Japanese have built their entire culture on contradictions, but at the core is the notion that teamwork pays dividends. It's an idea that most Americans are now ready to relearn."

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