June 3, 1991

Through most of the 1980's, Japanese politicians loved to point to the International Business Machines Corporation as evidence that American companies not only survive in Japan, but prosper. At the end of the decade, the company's Japanese business was I.B.M.'s brightest star, accounting for 19 percent of the company's profits. But in the last 18 months, IBM Japan Ltd. has been in steady retreat. It has surrendered big chunks of its market share to Fujitsu, Hitachi and NEC. Profits have plummeted, and seem likely to fall further as the company is forced to cut prices sharply. It has moved too slowly to bring out products. And last year, when Japan's computer market grew a remarkable 10 percent, I.B.M.'s sales here climbed 1.1 percent.

Jackson Square Park is a quarter-acre anomaly. The square, bounded by Eighth and Greenwich Avenues and Horatio Street in the West Village, is actually a triangle. In contrast to the patches of concrete that often pass for parks in New York City, it is an oasis whose 24 pin oak trees form a verdant canopy over a functioning fountain. It was presumably named for Andrew Jackson, but the fortitude of its neighbors evokes Stonewall.

Three months after the Persian Gulf war devastated Iraq's military and many of its civilian industries, the country remains seriously incapacitated, facing a potentially catastrophic health crisis this summer and many years of rebuilding its civilian economy, Bush Administration analysts say. A comprehensive assessment of the damage from the intense 43-day allied bombardment remains classified within the Administration, which has been reluctant to divulge details. But an overview of the damage to key sectors of Iraq's economy emerged in recent days from a series of interviews with Administration analysts, who agreed to discuss it if they were not identified.

A day after Sony announced a deal with Nintendo to make electronic game players, Nintendo announced that it had struck a deal with Philips, one of Sony's principal rivals. The Nintendo Company evidently turned to Philips N.V., the Dutch electronics giant, to try to maintain its domination of the $4.7 billion video game market after signing what some experts say is an unfavorable deal with the Sony Corporation.

After buying a copy of The Racing Times at a Manhattan newsstand, Ed Piesman, a dentist and an avid horse-racing fan, said he preferred the new paper to the venerable Daily Racing Form because "the columnists are much better" and some of the statistics "are much, much better." But the news dealer who sold him the paper said people like Dr. Piesman were few. "The Racing Times, I sell two a day, maybe five when there is a big race," said Ashok Patel, whose stand at 72d Street and Broadway is adjacent to an off-track betting parlor. "The Daily Racing Form, I sell 40 or 50 a day."