People: Oct. 3, 1969

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A group of aging men trudged slowly through the imperial paddyfield in Tokyo's Palace compound, stooping to cut the rice plants in an annual harvest ritual as old as the gods of Japan. Their leader, in a gray shirt and a battered panama hat, was once considered the descendant of the sun and is still patron of all agriculture—the Emperor himself. In a traditional announcement, the Palace reported that Hirohito, 68, and his chamberlains had harvested "a good crop" from the 350-square-yard paddy. Part of the sacred grain will be distilled into black and white sake and offered to imperial ancestors in the Palace's inner sanctuary.

The long-awaited heavyweight fight between Ex-Champion Muhammad All and Joe Frazier, who is recognized as the champ by six states, nearly came off last week on a Philadelphia street. After quarreling with Frazier on a local TV talk show, ALI (who lost his title after refusing induction into the military) lay in wait outside the studio. When Frazier emerged, Ali hit him in the shoulder with a long, looping right. Before followers could restrain both fighters, Ali threw another punch that fell short. "If Clay gets a license to fight, we'll fight him," Frazier's manager said afterward. "Until then, we're willing to use him as a sparring partner —and we'll pay him."

It was a warm Saturday afternoon in Manhattan, and the boys could hardly wait to try out their new toy rockets. Accompanied by a governess and a Secret Service man, John-John Kennedy, 8, and a playmate found an appropriate site in Central Park. While strollers stopped to stare, the boys successfully launched the plastic missiles, which, with the aid of a propellant of vinegar mixed with baking soda, rose about twelve feet into the air. John-John was so delighted by the performance that he blurted: "Now I have my own little Cape Kennedy."

Although they are both Republicans and more or less liberal, two Rockefeller brothers seemed to be in friendly competition to win the favor of Georgia's Democratic reactionary Governor Lester Maddox. Aware that Arkansas Governor Winthrop Rockefeller had delivered a shiny orange bicycle to Maddox after Lester had jokingly complained about his lack of transportation, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller could hardly wait to upstage his brother. How did Maddox like the bike from

Winthrop? he asked. One with a motor would be better, Lester allowed. The answer was not lost on Nelson, who bought a pea-green motorbike and sent it to the statehouse in Atlanta. Put-putting happily around his office, Maddox offered his newest benefactor a free ride any time he comes south.

"Actually, we're already married, really," says America's 25-year-old folk hero, "because people get married when they love each other." Still, to avoid "a hassle," Arlo Guthrie and Jackie Hyde, 25, will soon take the vows—possibly in the deconsecrated Stockbridge, Mass, church that was his home in the film Alice's Restaurant. The balladeer-song-writer met his "very groovy chick" while performing in Los Angeles at the Troubadour Cafe, where she was serving tables. "She has the same philosophy I have," he says. "We're just interested in living."