What was going on when I was born?

When Japanese companies first began manufacturing in this country, many people smiled at oddities like pre-work exercise, but analysts were struck with the efficiency of the Japanese management style. Now, the Koreans are coming, setting up their own factories and bringing their version of management ''harmony.'' Dozens of South Korean corporations have already opened offices in the United States, and two have begun manufacturing operations. The Lucky-Goldstar Group opened a color television factory in Huntsville two and a half years ago, and is now bustling with expansion plans. Last fall the Samsung Group also began producing color televisions, at a factory in Roxbury Township, N.J.

CBS stock plunged nearly $10 in heavy selling yesterday amid widespread Wall Street rumors that Ivan F. Boesky, the multimillionaire Wall Street arbitrager, was quietly selling his stock, using others to hide his own movements. At the heart of yesterday's setback was the news that CBS had sued Mr. Boesky on the ground that he had built his 8.7 percent stake in the company by violating Federal regulations requiring him to put up at least half the money in cash. The suit further contended that he failed to disclose that he had tried to sell his stock back to CBS or to say that he had had conversations about CBS with Ted Turner, the maverick Atlanta broadcaster, and other unidentified individuals.

THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1985 Companies An $18-a-share offer for control of Uniroyal was made by Carl C. Icahn, the Wall Street financier. The rubber company's stock closed at $18.75, indicating that the market expects a higher bid to emerge. Shareholders are scheduled to vote Tuesday on measures intended to make a takeover virtually impossible. Mr. Icahn, who holds about 10 percent of Uniroyal, is leading a proxy fight to defeat those measures. (Page D1.) CBS stock plunged in heavy trading amid widespread rumors that Ivan F. Boesky was reducing his holdings. (D1.)

Pressing trade issues are reshaping the political lineup in the United States as Democrats and Republicans maneuver for advantage while trying to deal with an influx of imports from Japan and other countries. The Democrats, who until last year championed legislation to restrict imports, have shifted to blaming the Administration's fiscal policy and the bloated dollar for the nation's record $123.8 billion trade deficit last year. One reason, analysts say, is that the Democrats smell blood. Twenty-two Senate Republicans face re-election next year, and they could be vulnerable to the Administration's enthusiasm for free-market solutions to the severe problems of the dollar's high value.

A judge issued a temporary restraining order last night barring Columbia University from ''taking any action'' against student protesters barricading a campus building as long as the protest did not disrupt activities in the building. The judge, Justice Bruce Wright of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, also barred the university from ''taking police action against the students'' who are protesting the university's investments in companies doing business with South Africa. The order, which was served on a trustee of the university, Ann S. Sand, will remain in force until a hearing at 4 P.M. Monday. A university spokesman, Fred Knubel, said that the university would comply with ''a lawful order'' but that its lawyers had not yet reviewed the document.

Carl C. Icahn, the Wall Street financier, announced a tender offer yesterday for control of Uniroyal Inc., one of the nation's major rubber companies, at $18 a share. Uniroyal later in the day termed the offer inadequate. Uniroyal's stock led the New York Stock Exchange most-active list yesterday on turnover of more than 4.3 million shares, closing up 87.5 cents, to $18.75. The fact that the stock closed higher than the Icahn offer indicated that the market was expecting a higher bid or possibly a leveraged buyout proposal.

BOSTON THE year was 1969. A group of young Boston women were beginning to get together to exchange names of doctors and information about health care. Information was hard to come by - the age of the self-help book had not yet dawned - so each woman would pick a topic, such as childbirth, rape or abortion, do her own research and write a paper. From those meetings the Boston Women's Health Book Collective was born, and from those papers their best-selling book ''Our Bodies, Ourselves,'' evolved.

A report in the Briefing column of the Washington Talk page on March 27 incorrectly described a new series of breakfast interviews at the National Press Club for reporters. There is no admission charge.

An article in Science Times on Feb. 26 about strokes incorrectly described an experimental treatment developed in Sweden. Doctors there and in the United States are testing a technique called hemodilution, which thins the blood and allows it to slip past blockages in blood vessels.

The man believed by Mexican authorities to be the country's No. 1 drug trafficker has been arrested in the Pacific resort of Puerto Vallarta, the Attorney General's office announced. The arrest Monday of the suspect, Ernesto Fonseca Carillo, was the second major blow to Mexico's narcotics trade in less than a week. Last Thursday the police seized Rafael Caro Quintero, said by United States and Mexican officials to be among the top figures in the Mexican drug trade, in San Jose, Costa Rica. He was returned to Mexico on Friday and is facing charges before a Mexican court.

IN 1983, Sam and Elizabeth White finally found the Manhattan house they had been looking for: a turn-of-the century five- story limestone on a tree-lined Upper East Side block. Its richly carved facade had Corinthian pilasters and a frieze of swags and wreaths below the roof. Originally a well-kept one-family house, the exterior had become shabby over the years and the interior had been chopped up into small rental units. But for the Whites, it was exactly the situation they wanted: a house with rental income and three floors of vacant space they could renovate in stages. ''For now, having six tenants living above us is great,'' said Sam White, who is a partner in the Manhattan architectural firm of Buttrick White & Burtis. ''It's nice to know there are other people around and besides we couldn't have afforded it any other way. Eventually we'll turn the house back to what it had originally been, a single-family house''

Acknowledging that there had been ''ambiguity'' in previous American statements, President Reagan's national security adviser said today that Mr. Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev could meet this year even if full-fledged summit talks were not possible. The adviser, Robert C. MacFarlane, said he was seeking to clarify comments by American officials in recent days, and he drew a distinction between a summit meeting, with delegations of officials from both sides, and a meeting of two leaders. 'Would Welcome a Meeting' ''The President has stressed that he would welcome a meeting with the General Secretary,'' Mr. McFarlane said of Mr. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader. ''He would also welcome a summit at the proper time and as the culmination of an extended dialogue which has produced a tangible accomplishment.''