NAKASONE INTERVENES IN MICROCHIP DISPUTE Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone intervened to try to resolve Japan's escalating dispute with the U.S. Over semiconductor trade, government officials said. At today's Cabinet meeting, Nakasone told Trade and Industry Minister Hajime Tamura to redouble his efforts to calm U.S. Anger over what it sees as Japan's unfair trade practices in semiconductors. Nakasone intervened only two days before a scheduled meeting of the Reagan administration's Economic Policy Council to consider whether Japan is reneging on its microchip pact with the U.S. That pact, agreed last year after months of negotiations, calls on Japan to stop selling cut-price chips in world markets and to raise its imports of U.S. Semiconductors. Senior U.S. Officials have accused Tokyo of failing to live up to the accord and have threatened retaliatory action. Yesterday, Tamura's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) launched a last-ditch attempt to salvage the pact by writing letters to U.S. Policy makers setting out Japan's case and telling Japanese chip makers to cut output. In his letter, the contents of which were released today, Tamura said a MITI survey carried out at the beginning of March showed Japanese producers were not selling at cut-rate prices in Asian markets. In a separate letter sent to senior U.S. Officials, MITI vice minister for international affairs Makoto Kuroda suggested the two countries could conduct a joint investigation into allegations of Japanese chip dumping in such markets.