IT WAS a delicate matter. To picture the ancient and honorable custom of mixed bathing that still prevails in communal bathhouses in many parts of rural Japan. Photographer Jean Launois drove 150 miles south of Tokyo to the tiny village of Yokokawa. A special meeting of the village fathers approved the project, and a willing family volunteered as subjects, eager to enjoy "the honor of being photographed by a foreign photographer."

A few hours later, all was ready. The bathers were in the tub, and a crowd of admirers was pressed around Photographer Launois. Suddenly the door was pulled open, and an old man, shouting fiercely, ordered him to take down his equipment. "He was gesturing wildly," reported Launois, "and barking in the old samurai style which I had only heard in the movies before." The village chief tried to convince the old man that Launois' motives were dignified, but he had no success. Finally, when the bathers became frightened by the commotion and departed for home, the old man himself undressed and slid into the bath, announcing scornfully that he would "rather die in the tub than have anyone take pictures."

He remained soaking for five hours while the whole village tried to think of a way to get him out. The young men were for pulling him out, but the elders, respecting his age, opposed the use of force. Finally, someone remembered that the only one with influence over the old man was his son. They went to see the son, and he suggested that he would use the village's telephone system and ask to speak to the old man. It worked. Lobster-red after his long soaking in the hot water, the old man got out. His son convinced him over the phone that he was interfering with an honorable village project, and he relented and disappeared. The villagers found another family, and Launois got his pictures.

The unusual but faithfully reportorial scene of rural Japanese women bathing with members of their family helped Launois round out an important color photograph assignment for TIME. This one, showing both the new and the old ways of life of Japanese women, accompanies this week's cover story (see FOREIGN NEWS). As a dramatic document of sociological change in one of the world's great nations, it is typical of TIME's frequent, unique use of color photography to provide an added dimension to journalism.

Similar projects in the past on other subjects have given a broader treatment than could have been provided in black and white. Color photographs of middle-class Mexico (Dec. 8) showed some of the startling social and economic developments changing our neighbor to the south. A spread on Squaw Valley (Feb. 9) provided a breathtaking view of the scene of next winter's Olympics. At the same time, vast and fundamental changes rapidly affecting the whole world have been covered by color spreads on such subjects as space medicine (May 26) and the U.S. atomics industry (Jan. 12). All of them have supplemented TIME's written words and have helped to present a broader and more compelling record of newsworthy places and events.

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