He contends that the perception in Japan of a vitriolic U.S. response to Sony Corp.'s announcement of its purchase of Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc. has been temporarily mollified .He cites the recent deal between the Mitsubishi Estate Co. and the Rockefeller Group, as well as the possible white knight role of an undisclosed Japanese company in the Georgia-Pacific Corp. takeover bid for Great Northern Nekoosa Corp. as evidence .The forthcoming maturity in November of a 10-year Japanese government yen-denominated bond issue valued at about $ 16 billion has prompted speculation in the market that investors redeeming the bonds will diversify into dollar-denominated instruments, according to Mr. Madison .It remains unclear whether the bond issue will be rolled over .Meanwhile, traders in Tokyo say that the prospect of lower U.S. interest rates has spurred dollar buying by Japanese institutions .They point out that these institutions want to lock in returns on high-yield U.S. Treasury debt and suggest demand for the U.S. unit will continue unabated until rates in the U.S. recede .The market again showed little interest in further evidence of a slowing U.S. economy, and traders note that the market in recent weeks has taken its cues more from Wall Street than U.S. economic indicators .Dealers said the dollar merely drifted lower following the release Wednesday of the U.S. purchasing managers' report .The managers' index, which measures the health of the manufacturing sector, stood at 47.6 % in October, above September's 46 %, and also above average forecasts for the index of 45.3 % .Some dealers said the dollar was pressured slightly because a number of market participants had boosted their expectations in the past day and were looking for an index above 50, which indicates an expanding manufacturing economy .But most said the index had no more than a minimal effect on trade .On the Commodity Exchange in New York, gold for current delivery settled at $ 374.20 an ounce, down 50 cents .Estimated volume was a moderate 3.5 million ounces .In early trading in Hong Kong Thursday, gold was quoted at $ 374.19 an ounce ." The Cosby Show " may have single-handedly turned around ratings at NBC since its debut in 1984, and the Huxtable family still keeps millions of viewers laughing Thursday night on the network .But some of the TV stations that bought " Cosby " reruns for record prices two years ago aren't laughing much these days .The reruns have helped ratings at many of the 187 network affiliates and independent TV stations that air the shows .But the ratings are considerably below expectations, and some stations say they may not buy new episodes when their current contracts expire .Meanwhile, stations are fuming because, many of them say, the show's distributor, Viacom Inc., is giving an ultimatum: Either sign new long-term commitments to buy future episodes or risk losing " Cosby " to a competitor .At the same time, Viacom is trying to persuade stations to make commitments to " A Different World, " a spin-off of " Cosby " whose reruns will become available in 1991 .Viacom denies it 's using pressure tactics ." We 're willing to negotiate, " says Dennis Gillespie, executive vice president of marketing ." We 're offering this plan now because we feel it 's the right time ." But, says the general manager of a network affiliate in the Midwest, " I think if I tell them I need more time, they 'll take ' Cosby ' across the street, " Viacom's move comes as the syndication market is being flooded with situation comedies that are still running on the networks .One station manager says he believes Viacom's move is a " pre-emptive strike " because the company is worried that " Cosby " ratings will continue to drop in syndication over the next few years ." Cosby " is down a full ratings point in the week of Oct. 2-8 over the same week a year ago, according to A.C. Nielsen Co .Mr. Gillespie at Viacom says the ratings are rising .And executives at stations in such major markets as Washington; Providence, R.I.; Cleveland; Raleigh, N.C.; Minneapolis, and Louisville, Ky., say they may very well not renew " Cosby ." Dick Lobo, the general manager of WTVJ, the NBC-owned station in Miami, for example, says the show has " been a major disappointment to us ." " At the prices we were charged, there should have been some return for the dollar .There wasn't ." Neil Kuvin, the general manager of WHAS, the CBS affiliate in Louisville, says " Cosby " gets the station's highest ratings and he 's " pleased ." But he adds, " I feel pressured, disappointed, uncomfortable and, frankly, quite angry with Viacom ." The Life Insurance Co. of Georgia has officially opened an office in Taipei .David Wu, the company's representative in Taiwan, said Atlanta-based Life of Georgia will sell conventional life-insurance products .Life of Georgia is part of the Nationale Nederlanden Group, based in the Netherlands .In this era of frantic competition for ad dollars, a lot of revenue-desperate magazines are getting pretty cozy with advertisers -- fawning over them in articles and offering pages of advertorial space .So can a magazine survive by downright thumbing its nose at major advertisers ? Garbage magazine, billed as " The Practical Journal for the Environment, " is about to find out .Founded by Brooklyn, N.Y., publishing entrepreneur Patricia Poore, Garbage made its debut this fall with the promise to give consumers the straight scoop on the U.S. waste crisis .The magazine combines how-to pieces on topics like backyard composting, explanatory essays on such things as what happens after you flush your toilet, and hard-hitting pieces on alleged environmental offenders .Garbage editors have dumped considerable energy into a whirling rampage through supermarket aisles in a bid to identify corporate America's good guys and bad boys .In one feature, called " In the Dumpster, " editors point out a product they deem to be a particularly bad offender .From an advertising standpoint, the problem is these offenders are likely to be some of the same folks that are major magazine advertisers these days .With only two issues under its belt, Garbage has alienated some would-be advertisers and raised the ire of others .Campbell Soup, for one, is furious its Souper Combo microwave product was chastised in the premiere " In the Dumpster " column .The magazine's editors ran a giant diagram of the product with arrows pointing to the packaging's polystyrene foam, polyproplene and polyester film -- all plastic items they say are non-biodegradable ." It 's precisely the kind of product that 's created the municipal landfill monster, " the editors wrote ." I think that this magazine is not only called Garbage, but it is practicing journalistic garbage, " fumes a spokesman for Campbell Soup .He says Campbell wasn't even contacted by the magazine for the opportunity to comment .Modifications had been made to the Souper Combo product at the time the issue was printed, he says, making it less an offender than was portrayed .He admits, though, it isn't one of Campbell Soup's better products in terms of recyclability .Campbell Soup, not surprisingly, doesn't have any plans to advertise in the magazine, according to its spokesman .Some media experts question whether a young magazine can risk turning off Madison Avenue's big spenders ." You really need the Campbell Soups of the world to be interested in your magazine if you 're going to make a run of it, " says Mike White, senior vice president and media director at DDB Needham, Chicago ." The economics of magazine publishing pretty much require that you have a pretty solid base " of big-time ad spenders, he adds .The first two issues featured ads from only a handful of big advertisers, including General Electric and Adolph Coors, but the majority were from companies like Waste Management Inc. and Bumkins International, firms that don't spend much money advertising and can't be relied on to support a magazine over the long haul .A Waste Management spokeswoman says its ad in the premiere issue was a one-time purchase, and it doesn't have any plans to advertise in future issues ." We don't spend much on print advertising, " she says .But Ms. Poore, the magazine's editor and publisher, contends Garbage can survive, at least initially, on subscription revenues .Individual copies of the magazine sell for $ 2.95 and yearly subscriptions cost $ 21 .( It is, of course, printed on recycled paper . )According to Ms. Poore, Old-House Journal Corp., her publishing company, printed and sold all 126,000 copies of the premiere issue .The first and second issues sold out on newsstands, she says, and the magazine has orders for 93,000 subscriptions .Asked whether potential advertisers will be scared away by the magazine's direct policy, Ms. Poore replies: " I don't know and I don't care .I 'm not saying advertising revenue isn't important, " she says, " but I couldn't sleep at night " if the magazine bowed to a company because they once took out an ad .Ad Notes ... .