A friend has sent me a clipping from her home-town paper. It is about a new telephone service staffed exclusively by women, a point they wanted to emphasize in the name they selected. It is called Miss Information. That is not what you get from Tokyo's information service, which is also provided by women. I have probably printed their number more often than any other: (03) 5320-7744. Their name was selected to describe their work: Foreign Residents' Advisory Center. Not so long ago the office published a six-language book that provides answers to the most frequently asked questions called "Q&A, A Guide to Your Life in Japan." The languages are Japanese, English, French, Chinese, Korean and Spanish. It is a handy reference book for anyone but especially for those dealing with international personnel. You will find it at most bookstores carrying English language books. (Published by Gyosei, ISBN4-324-05360-X C0036, 3,360 yen)

A reader asks about a book that was published during the immediate postwar years called The American Way of Housekeeping. She remembers a copy her mother had and wonders if it is still available. First published in 1948, it was a combined effort of the Ladies of the American Community and was a best-seller for years. The cost of the new and revised edition published 20 years later by Tuttle was 1,260 yen or $3.50, a far different exchange rate from today's. It was popular in those nonbilingual days because one page was in English, the other in Japanese. You could point to the proper page when you wanted to instruct your Japanese maid in housecleaning, serving meals, caring for the baby, making beds or baking a meringue torte. Japanese read it to learn the ways of the West.

Actually, what she really wants is a recipe for oatmeal cookies that her mother told her came from that book. She has it, since I have a treasured copy of the 1968 edition. It doesn't seem to have any surprise ingredients except that few recipes in these fat-conscious days would start with creaming together one cup of shortening and one cup of sugar. Also, I would guess most oatmeal cookies these days come from the supermarket.