Recently I quoted letters from a university English writing class commenting on a column about General MacArthur. That prompted a letter from longtime resident G.A. Chandru who has done much over the years to promote his adopted city of Yokohama as well as Indian culture and products. A few years ago when I complained about the poor quality of typewriter ribbons now that nylon has replaced cotton, he sent me several cotton ribbons from India that produced the clear, dark letters I remembered. Today he adds to our store of knowledge about MacArthur. He tells us that the general landed first in Yokohama and until he moved to the Dai-ichi Insurance building in Tokyo, he used the Hotel New Grand as his office/home. His room was on the third floor and Chandru says he sometimes takes people interested in Yokohama's history there to see it. He reports that the bed, desk and chair are the same ones used by MacArthur.

The Hotel New Grand, a longtime Yokohama landmark across from Yamashita Park, holds its own against the spectacular new hotels that have been built in the Minato Mirai beautification project. Several years ago it was renovated, but many of the old traditional fittings were kept while interiors were modernized to meet today's expectations. During the process, one of Yokohama's best restaurants, the shiplike Normandie, opened in the new New Tokyo Grand next door. Try it sometime while you are exploring Yokohama.

A reader asks about the ship in the harbor in front of the hotel, one that is now firmly land-locked. The Hikawa-maru has had a varied history. Once it was a luxurious cruise ship. Later, during the war, the Imperial stateroom became the captain's cabin and the first-class dining room the officer's galley while her lounges were wards for the wounded. It had become a hospital ship and was in Truk as the Japanese fleet faced annihilation. Its markings probably saved it as other ships were sunk, many now visited by underwater explorers vacationing in Micronesia. Her various cargoes included, in addition to passengers, such things as treaty documents, gold, oil, actors, princes and fish. Now you can buy a ticket and go on board, but your entertainments are limited to game machines and an assortment of snacks and light meals. Once you could order replicas of dinners served in the elegant dining salon when it was a luxury liner, but today's visitors seem to prefer things like curry, rice balls and beer. Times change.

Travel changes too, with expanded travel-related services. One is travel insurance. If your present policy does not provide coverage for a full range of injuries, accidents and ailments wherever you may be, you should know about a reader's experience in Europe last summer. After a hectic schedule he arrived at a small hotel in Paris -- with a painfully aching back. The next day it was worse and he called the front desk. There was sympathy but little help; it was the holidays. Finally he was told he could have an appointment several days later with a doctor in a nearby village, but he needed immediate help.

Then he remembered his AIU policy which was supposed to cover life, limb and luggage for the duration of the trip. With his policy was a plastic card in Japanese. All he could read was Paris in katakana and a telephone number, which he called. It took several attempts, but when he finally got through, a sympathetic male voice, first in Japanese and then, at his request, in English, asked about his problem. When he explained, he was assured that a doctor would be at his hotel that morning. In less than two hours he was there, a nice, gray-haired family doctor who diagnosed lumbago and prescribed some pills and rest. The fee was covered by the insurance and the only claim he needed to submit was for an insignificant amount covering the medicine. He recovered rapidly, at least partially due, he thinks, to the therapeutic effect of the relief he felt at the efficient response of the emergency center which banished his sense of isolation in a foreign country. And that is why he wanted to tell other readers about AIU.

For information, call Ms. Yamage, (03) 5619-3424, or ask for AIU travel insurance at most travel agencies.