Japan Premier Makes Firm Reform Vow : Politics: Hosokawa calls legislative timetable a promise. He labels nation a World War II aggressor.

With six words in Japanese, Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa on Tuesday staked his political life on implementing political and electoral reform by the end of the year. And with another seven, he labeled Japan an aggressor in World War II.

The statements highlighted his maiden press conference as prime minister, which unveiled a self-confident leader who minces few words.

After Hosokawa spelled out his reform schedule--submission of bills in September and enactment by December--the 55-year-old former governor was asked if his timetable could be considered an official promise to the people.

“Yes,” he responded. In Japanese, that took two words.

If so, a reporter asked, will you assume responsibility if reform is not carried out?

“Yes,” he said, and turned to take another question. That was four words in Japanese.

“Taking responsibility” in Japanese usage usually means resigning. TV commentators expressed astonishment that the new prime minister would make such a promise at his first press conference, which was nationally televised.

In making it, however, Hosokawa emphasized his determination to carry out the major promise opposition parties made in a July 18 election that ousted Japan’s perennial rulers, the Liberal Democrats, and brought eight political parties together in the coalition that now governs the nation.

“Our most important task right now is restoring people’s trust in politics,” he said.

“I intend this Cabinet not simply to lead the country for a brief interlude but rather to undertake the important mission of opening the way for a new era,” he said. “Responsible change” and a new relationship of dialogue, instead of discord, between the ruling and opposition parties will be his government’s goal, he added.

He also said that “Japan should take a more active role than ever before in resolving . . . global issues, while clearly expressing our remorse at and atonement for our past history.”

Asked to elaborate on Japan’s responsibility for World War II, he was equally blunt: “It was a war of aggression. It was a mistake.”

That was seven words in Japanese.

None of the parade of 14 Liberal Democrat prime ministers who ruled Japan over the last 38 years ever labeled the war as “aggression” without qualification. One--Noboru Takeshita--even suggested that the nature of Japan’s role in the 1937-45 war that began in China and ended at Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have to be left to the judgment of future historians.

And a series of statements by the late Emperor Hirohito and his son, Emperor Akihito, never went beyond calling the war “an unfortunate period” for which they felt “deep sorrow.”

Later, on a TV debate show, leaders of the other parties in Hosokawa’s coalition in the lower house of Parliament endorsed his “aggression” statement.

Hosokawa said Japan will do its part to reduce its $49.4-billion trade surplus with the United States. But he, like his predecessor, Kiichi Miyazawa, opposed setting numerical goals and said American efforts to reduce the U.S. budget deficit and restore competitiveness will be needed.

The new prime minister offered few specifics on new policies he might pursue, but he brought a new flavor to the news conference.

With his Parliament badge missing from his lapel--”to avoid flaunting the symbol of power,” he said--he walked in through the front door of the prime minister’s press conference room, instead of using a rear entrance reserved for government officials. And he dispensed with the practice of waiting for reporters to initiate questions.