Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 5, 1962: Ethel Kennedy, wife of the U.S. attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, swings a wooden boom to ring the bell of Seisho Temple in Tokyo. Mrs. Kennedy set a lively pace for herself while her husband fulfilled official requirements of their 6-day goodwill visit to Japan.

On one day of the trip she sat on the straw-matted floor and used chopsticks to sample Japanese delicacies served during a three-hour luncheon. She saw the temple’s Zen meditation room, visited the nursery school and struck the giant bell in the courtyard. The same day she visited the Seishi Ryogoen Hospital for Crippled Children and the University of the Sacred Heart.

Also on her tightly packed schedule was a tea at the American Embassy given by the embassy wives and an appearance on a Japanese television show. The next day’s experiences included a ride in a jam packed subway and a shopping expedition in a large Tokyo department store. She declared she found the subway ride “great fun.” She bought a battery-powered toy animal musician for each of her seven children.