September 5, 1981

At every turn here, one confronts overwhelming evidence that Japan, more than any other nation, has embraced advanced electronic and computer technology as a way to improve industrial productivity, save energy and, in theory, make day-to-day life more convenient, enriching and entertaining. The influence of such technology is apparent in hundreds of small ways. In the Asahi Shimbun building, home of the leading Japanese newspaper, venetian blinds rise and fall at the whim of an energyconscious computer. In the Hotel Okura, a visitor does not have to request a wake-up call because a soft beep can be ordered for any time by punching a few buttons on an electronic bedside console. ''I've lived here for four years, so I should be inured to it, but I'm still struck every time I walk through Akihabara,'' said Eric W. Hayden, chief economist for the Bank of America's Asia division. He was referring to the bustling district of semiconductor shops that form a veritable electronics flea market. ''This is where these people really excel - in electronics,'' he added.

The Agriculture Department proposed today to reduce the amount of food served to children receiving federally subsidized lunches in schools throughout the country. The proposal would abandon a goal set at the program's inception 35 years ago: to serve lunches that give children one-third of the recommended dietary allowances for a variety of nutrients. The new rules do not set firm or precise overall nutritional goals. Agriculture Department officials said that the rules would diminish the cost of preparing a school lunch by reducing the quantity of food that must be served. This saving, in turn, would help schools cope with the reduction in school lunch subsidies mandated by Congress this year, the officials said.

The Board of Education and the city have reached an agreement that averts the possibility of hundreds of thousands of students being turned away from school next week because they have not been inoculated against childhood diseases. Parents of students requiring immunization will have two weeks after school starts Thursday to turn in consent forms authorizing inoculations by the City Health Department, Mayor Koch and Schools Chancellor Frank J. Macchiarola said at a news conference yesterday. In a separate announcement, the two officials set out plans for closer cooperation between the Board of Education and the city to strengthen security and reduce crime in the schools. No Firm Figures The agreement regarding inoculations headed off a major crisis for local schools. There are apparently no firm figures on the number of children lacking the inoculations, but estimates have ranged from 200,000 to 400,000.

State Department officials said today that the Soviet Union had withheld information on the number of troops involved in military maneuvers now being conducted in the Baltic region near Poland. Under the terms of the 1975 Helsinki accord s, notification of majormilitary exercises must include information o n the strength of the forces involved. This is the first time that the Soviet Union has failed to provide such information.

The Egyptian police used tear gas to break up demonstrations at several Cairo mosques today after the arrests of at least 1,000 critics of President Anwar el-Sadat. The two-day crackdown was the most sweeping conducted by Mr. Sadat during his 11 years in office. Among those arrested were Moslem fundamentalists, Coptic Christian clergymen, politicians, academicians, lawyers and journalists. Mohammed Hassanein Heikal, a prominent journalist who was an influential figure during the rule of Gamal Abdel Nasser, was one of those detained.