A prominent Japanese politician has described as "necessary" the system by which women were forced to become prostitutes for World War II troops.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said on Monday that the "comfort women" gave Japanese soldiers a chance "to rest".
On Tuesday, Japanese ministers tried to distance themselves from his remarks.
Some 200,000 women in territories occupied by Japan during WWII are estimated to have been forced to become sex slaves for troops.
Many of the women came from China and South Korea, but also from the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan.
Japan's treatment of its wartime role has been a frequent source of tension with its neighbours, and South Korea expressed "deep disappointment" at Mr Hashimoto's words.
"There is a worldwide recognition... that the issue of comfort women amounts to a war-time rape committed by Japan during its past imperial period in a serious breach of human rights," a South Korean foreign ministry spokesman told news agency AFP.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei expressed shock and indignation at the mayor's comments.
"The conscription of sex slaves was a grave crime committed by the Japanese military," he said. "We are shocked and indignant at the Japanese politician's remarks, as they flagrantly challenge historical justice."
Mr Hashimoto is the co-founder of the nationalist Japanese Restoration Party, which has a small presence in parliament and is not part of the government.
Hakubun Shimomura
Education Minister
He was the youngest governor in Japanese history before becoming mayor of Osaka, and last year said Japan needed "a dictatorship".
In his latest comments, quoted by Japanese media, he said: "In the circumstances in which bullets are flying like rain and wind, the soldiers are running around at the risk of losing their lives,"
"If you want them to have a rest in such a situation, a comfort women system is necessary. Anyone can understand that."
He acknowledged that the women had been acting "against their will". He also claimed that Japan was not the only country to use the system, though it was responsible for its actions.
He said he backed a 1995 statement by Japan's then-PM Tomiichi Murayama, in which he apologised for war-time actions in Asia.
"It is a result of the tragedy of the war that they became comfort women against their will. The responsibility for the war also lies with Japan. We have to politely offer kind words to [former] comfort women."
'Historic given'
Recent visits to Japan's war-linked Yasukuni shrine sparked protests in South Korea
On Tuesday Japan's Cabinet Minister Yoshihide Suga declined to comment directly on Mr Hashimoto's remarks but reiterated the government's existing stance on comfort women.
He said the government felt "pains towards people who experienced hardships that are beyond description".
In 1993, Japan issued an apology for the "immeasurable pain and suffering" inflicted on comfort women. In 1995, it also apologised for its war-time aggression.
Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura also expressed concerns over Mr Hashimoto's remarks.
"A series of remarks related to our interpretation of (wartime) history have been already misunderstood," he told reporters. "In that sense, Mr Hashimoto's remark came at a bad time."
Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe angered China and South Korea when he suggested he may no longer stand by the wording of Japan's 1995 apology, saying the definition of "aggression" was hard to establish.
Japanese ministers later sought to play down his remarks, amid anger across the region.
Japan's neighbours also objected to visits in April by several cabinet members and 170 MPs to Japan's Yasukuni shrine, which honours Japan's war dead, including war criminals.
TOKYO An outspoken nationalist mayor said the Japanese military’s forced prostitution of Asian women before and during World War II was necessary to “maintain discipline” in the ranks and provide rest for soldiers who risked their lives in battle.
The comments made Monday are already raising ire in neighboring countries that bore the brunt of Japan’s wartime aggression and have long complained that Japan has failed to fully atone for wartime atrocities.
Toru Hashimoto, the young, brash mayor of Osaka who is co-leader of an emerging conservative political party, also said that U.S. troops currently based in southern Japan should patronize the local sex industry more to help reduce rapes and other assaults.
Hashimoto told reporters on Monday that there wasn’t clear evidence that the Japanese military had coerced women to become what are euphemistically called “comfort women” before and during World War II.
“To maintain discipline in the military, it must have been necessary at that time,” Hashimoto said. “For soldiers who risked their lives in circumstances where bullets are flying around like rain and wind, if you want them to get some rest, a comfort women system was necessary. That’s clear to anyone.”
Historians say up to 200,000 women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula and China, were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers in military brothels.
China’s Foreign Ministry criticized the mayor’s comments and saw them as further evidence of a rightward drift in Japanese politics under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“We are appalled and indignant about the Japanese politician’s comments boldly challenging humanity and historical justice,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily media briefing. “The way they treat the past will determine the way Japan walks toward the future. On what choice Japan will make, the Asian neighbors and the international community will wait and see.”
Asked about a photo of Abe posing in a fighter jet with the number 731 ? the number of a notorious, secret Japanese unit that performed chemical and biological experiments on Chinese in World War II ? Hong again urged Japan not to whitewash history so as to improve relations with countries that suffered under Japanese occupation.
“There is a mountain of definitive iron-hard evidence for the crimes they committed in the Second World War. We hope Japan will face and contemplate their history of aggression and treat it correctly,” Hong said.
Abe posed, thumbs up, in the aircraft during a weekend visit to northeastern Japan.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry expressed disappointment over what it called a senior Japanese official’s serious lack of historical understanding and respect for women’s rights. It asked Japan’s leaders to reflect on their country’s imperial past, including grave human rights violations, and correct anachronistic historical views.
Hashimoto said he recently visited Okinawa in southern Japan and told the U.S. commander there “to make better use of the sex industry.”
“He froze, and then with a wry smile said that is off-limits for the U.S. military,” he said.
“I told him that there are problems because of such formalities,” Hashimoto said, explaining that he was not referring to illegal prostitution but to places operating within the law. “If you don’t make use of those places you cannot properly control the sexual energy of those tough guys.”
Calls to the after-hours number for U.S. Forces in Japan were not answered.
Hashimoto’s comments came amid continuing criticism of Abe’s earlier pledges to revise Japan’s past apologies for wartime atrocities. Before he took office in December, Abe had advocated revising a 1993 statement by then Prime Minister Yohei Kono acknowledging and expressing remorse for the suffering caused to the sexual slaves of Japanese troops.
Abe has acknowledged “comfort women” existed but has denied they were coerced into prostitution, citing a lack of official evidence.
Recently, top officials in Abe’s government have appeared to backpedal on suggestions the government might revise those apologies, apparently hoping to ease tensions with South Korea and China and address U.S. concerns about Abe’s nationalist agenda.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga repeated the previous government position and said those women went through unbearable pain.
“The stance of the Japanese government on the comfort women issue is well known. They have suffered unspeakably painful experiences. The Abe Cabinet has the same sentiments as past Cabinets,” he said.
Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura said Hashimoto’s remark was unhelpful given the criticism Japan faces from neighboring countries and the U.S. over its interpretation of history.
“A series of remarks related to our interpretation of (wartime) history have been already misunderstood. In that sense, Mr. Hashimoto’s remark came at a bad time,” Shimomura told reporters. “I wonder if there is any positive meaning to intentionally make such remarks at this particular moment.”
Hashimoto, 43, is co-head of the newly formed Japan Restoration Party with former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, who is a strident nationalist.
Sakihito Ozawa, the party’s parliamentary affairs chairman, said he believed Hashimoto’s remarks reflected his personal views, but he expressed concerns about possible repercussions.
“We should ask his real intentions and stop this at some point,” he said.
Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach, Miki Toda and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Sam Kim in Seoul and Zhao Liang in Beijing contributed to this report.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
TOKYO The mayor of one of Japan’s largest cities, who is seen by some as a possible future prime minister, drew an outcry on Monday after he said women forced into wartime brothels for the Japanese Army during World War II had served a necessary role in providing relief for war-crazed soldiers.
Toru Hashimoto, the populist mayor of Osaka, also said American soldiers stationed in Okinawa should make more use of the island’s adult entertainment industry, which he said would reduce the incidence of sexual crimes against local women.
Lawmakers and human rights groups swiftly condemned the remarks. So did South Korea, whose citizens made up the bulk of the so-called comfort women who served Japanese soldiers in military brothels.
South Korea’s Yonhap News quoted a senior government official there as saying Mr. Hashimoto’s comments exposed “a serious lack of historical understanding and a lack of respect for human rights.”
The conduct of the Japanese military in Asia before and during World War II remains a highly charged topic between Japan’s neighbors, who say Tokyo has not properly atoned for its history of wartime atrocities, and those, like Mr. Hashimoto, who feel that Japan has been unfairly demonized.
Some historians estimate that 200,000 women were rounded up from across Asia to work as comfort women for the Japanese Army. Other historians put that number in the tens of thousands, and say they served of their own will. Japan formally apologized to the comfort women in 1993.
Mr. Hashimoto told reporters in Osaka on Monday that they had served a useful purpose. “When soldiers are risking their lives by running through storms of bullets, and you want to give these emotionally charged soldiers a rest somewhere, it’s clear that you need a comfort women system,” he said.
When pressed later, he insisted that brothels “were necessary at the time to maintain discipline in the army.” Other countries’ militaries used prostitutes, too, he said, and added that in any case there was no proof that the Japanese authorities had forced women into servitude.
Instead, he put the women’s experiences down to “the tragedy of war,” and said surviving comfort women now deserved kindness from Japan.
Mr. Hashimoto is a co-leader of the Japan Restoration Association, a populist party with 57 lawmakers in Parliament. His comments followed those of a string of Japanese politicians who have recently challenged what they say is a distorted view of Japan’s wartime history. Last month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seemed to question whether Japan was the aggressor during the war, saying the definition of “invasion” was relative.
Mr. Abe’s comments heightened fears that he might seek to revise or even repudiate apologies that Japan has made to victims of its wartime conduct. The 1993 apology to comfort women and another in 1995 to nations that suffered from Japanese aggression during the war have been condemned by Japanese ultranationalists.
Mr. Hashimoto’s remarks swiftly drew widespread public rebuke.
“The comfort women system was not necessary,” said Banri Kaieda, president of the opposition Democratic Party. That Japan was the clear aggressor in war “is a fact we must face up to,” he said.
Mr. Hashimoto also said Monday that he had told a senior American military official at the Marine Corps base in Okinawa that United States soldiers should make more use of the local adult entertainment industry to reduce sexual crimes against local women.
“We can’t control the sexual energy of these brave marines,” Mr. Hashimoto said he had told the American officer, whom he did not identify, on a recent visit there. “They must make more use of adult entertainers.”
Early Tuesday, Mr. Hashimoto took to Twitter, on which he has over a million followers, to suggest that the United States was no better than Japan because prostitution is rife around American bases.
He also argued that by banning troops from all forms of adult entertainment in Japan, the United States military was discriminating against women legally working in that business.
In a comment posted on its Web site, the Women’s Action Network, which advocates for women’s rights in Japan, called Mr. Hashimoto’s earlier comments “shocking.”
In what could be seen as another controversial statement that could again escalate tensions in the region, Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto, co-leader of the Japan Restoration Party, said on Monday that “comfort women” were a necessary element of World War II for Japanese soldiers. “Comfort women” was a term coined for those women ? usually from countries that Japan occupied ? who provided sex for Imperial Army soldiers during the war. Hashimoto then acknowledged that these women served soldiers “against their will.”
“In the circumstances in which bullets are flying like rain and wind, the soldiers are running around at the risk of losing their lives. If you want them to have a rest in such a situation, a system like the ‘comfort women’ is necessary. Anyone can understand that,” Hashimoto told reporters in Osaka. “When I checked the history of those years, I found that not only the Japanese army but also those of various countries were utilizing (comfort women),” he added. Then the Osaka mayor seemed to soften his stance, saying “It is a result of the tragedy of the war that they became comfort women against their will. The responsibility for the war also lies with Japan. We have to politely offer kind words to (former) comfort women.” The issue of these women has been a flashpoint for anti-Japanese sentiments in Asia over the years. This was the reason why in 1995, a statement was released by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, which expressed remorse and apology to Asian countries on Japan’s colonial rule and aggression, a statement which Hashimoto said he supported. “Japan is a defeated country,” he said. “As a result of the defeat in the war, we must accept (the view) that what Japan did was aggression. There are no doubts (about the accusation) that Japan caused tremendous suffering and damage to neighboring countries. Japan must reflect on it and make an apology.”
Japanese actions have, in recent weeks, triggered outrage in Japan’s neighbors ? specifically in South Korea and China ? and has put the spotlight back on Japan’s perspective of its wartime past. These comments by Hashimoto might not sit well with Japan’s neighbors who are always keen to remember Japan’s oppressive imperialistic past, especially as in his recent comments, he supports Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent controversial assertion that the definition of aggression has yet to be decided. “What Prime Minister Abe is saying is correct in that, academically, there are no definitions on aggression,” Hashimoto said.
OSAKA - Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, who co-heads the opposition Japan Restoration Party, said Monday he believes the system to recruit women into sexual servitude was "necessary to maintain discipline" in the Japanese military during World War II.
Hashimoto told reporters at Osaka City Hall that the women who were forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military during the war, euphemistically referred to as "comfort women" in Japan, were "needed to provide rest to a group of brave soldiers who were exalted in the line of fire."
The mayor asked, "Why is the Japanese 'comfort women' system only blamed? Other countries had similar schemes at the time."
He denied the Japanese military had systematically abducted women, mostly from other Asian countries, to coerce them into sex slavery by assaulting and threatening them.
The mayor said Japan has been labeled "a nation of rapists" in Europe and the United States due to "campaigns by South Korea and other nations."
He said the system of "comfort women" was born "as a tragic consequence of war" and it is necessary to understand the feelings of such women and pay due consideration to them.
Hashimoto also said when he visited Okinawa to inspect the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in late April, he asked a senior U.S. military officer based in the prefecture to let Marines use local sex-related services.
"Otherwise, they cannot control the sexual energy of wild Marines," Hashimoto said. The U.S. military officer told the mayor that the Marines are prohibited from using such services, he added.
A South Korean government official slammed Hashimoto's remarks on "comfort women," saying they showed a "serious lack of recognition of history and the need to respect women's human rights," according to Yonhap News Agency.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference in Tokyo that Hashimoto had expressed his personal view and the Japanese government will not review its official position on the issue of wartime sex slavery.
In 1993, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono acknowledged in a statement the Japanese military's responsibility for forced recruitment of women into sexual servitude and apologized to the victims.
Regarding Hashimoto's remarks, Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui, secretary general of the Japan Restoration Party, told Kyodo News that people "cannot have an ordinary sense during war."
Hashimoto's comments drew fire from other opposition parties.
Japanese Communist Party Secretary General Tadayoshi Ichida said the remarks were "degrading to human beings and unforgivable." Hashimoto is "not qualified to serve as the head of a party and a mayor, or to speak about national politics," Ichida said.
Democratic Party of Japan leader Banri Kaieda said he believes the "comfort women" system was not necessary for the Japanese military during the war.
TOKYO - The Japanese government on Tuesday distanced itself from comments by a prominent politician that the so-called "comfort women" of WWII served a "necessary" role by keeping troops in check.
Outspoken Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said soldiers living with the daily threat of death needed some way to let off steam which was provided by the comfort women system.
Up to 200,000 women from Korea, China, the Philippines and elsewhere were forcibly drafted into brothels catering to the Japanese military in territories occupied by Japan during WWII, according to many mainstream historians.
"When soldiers risk their lives under a hail of bullets, and you want to give them a rest somewhere, it is clear that you need a comfort women system," Hashimoto said.
South Korea voiced "deep disappointment" over the comments, which risk inflaming Japan's relationship with neighbours that were victims of brutal expansionism and who claim Tokyo has never faced up to its warmongering past.
"There is worldwide recognition... that the issue of comfort women amounts to a wartime rape committed by Japan during its past imperial period in a serious breach of human rights," a Seoul foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.
"Our government again urges Japan's prominent officials to show regret for atrocities committed during Japan's imperial period and to correct their anachronistic way of thinking and comments."
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China was "shocked and strongly infuriated" at the comments.
"Forced conscription of comfort women was a serious crime committed by Japanese militarism during the Second World War and it is also a major human rights issue concerning the dignity of victims," he said.
"How to deal with its past will decide how Japan can embrace the future."
Hashimoto, who is co-leader of the national Japan Restoration Party, acknowledged that some women providing sexual services to Japan's soldiers did so "against their will", something he attributed to "the tragedy of war".
But he said there was no evidence this had been officially sanctioned by the state and that the use of prostitutes by servicemen was not unique to Japan.
"There are many examples" of unacceptable and brutal behaviour by soldiers in wartime and "to contain such things, it is a cold fact that a certain system like comfort women was necessary", he said.
Japan's top government spokesman and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Tuesday refused to comment directly on Hashimoto's remarks.
However, he said: "The government's position on the comfort women issue is that, as I repeatedly said here, we feel pains towards people who experienced hardships that are beyond description and (this) administration shares the view held by past governments."
In a landmark 1993 statement, the Japanese government offered "sincere apologies" for the "immeasurable pain and suffering" inflicted on comfort women.
Two years later, Japan issued a broader apology expressing "deep remorse" for war suffering.
The 1993 statement remains passionately opposed by some Japanese conservatives who contend that the country did not directly coerce women.
Despite a hawkish stance on history, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated last week he does not intend to backtrack on these apologies.
Japan's shared history with its Asian neighbours looms over present-day relations, which are also strained by separate territorial disputes with Seoul and Beijing.
Both capitals say Tokyo has not shown sufficient contrition for its WWII behaviour. But many in Japan feel nationalists abroad use the issue as a stick to beat it for their own domestic ends.
Hashimoto, who was once mentioned as a possible future prime minister, said Monday that Japan bears responsibility for the war and urged compassion for victims.
"(Comfort women were) a result of the tragedy of war so we have to take care with thoughtfulness of those people who became comfort women against their will," he said.
Shintaro Ishihara, a former Tokyo governor and the other co-leader of the Japan Restoration Party, came to Hashimoto's defence on Tuesday, arguing prostitutes and militaries have co-existed throughout history.
"Although Mr Hashimoto's comments are unpleasant to hear, he is not saying anything wrong," he said.
One of Japan's leading politicans has apoligised for suggesting US servicemen should visit brothels in his prefecture - but stopped short of apologising for saying that wartime sex slaves were a necessary evil.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto claimed American soldiers should go to legal "sex businesses" in the southern prefecture - home to three quarters of America's Japanese military bases - to channel their sex drive and prevent sex assaults against local women.
He told the US military commander in Okinawa: “Soldiers are put in extreme situations in which they can lose their lives.
“They are overflowing with energy. We have to think about the way they can let it out somewhere.”
The 43-year-old later told Japanese reporters that when he made the suggestion earlier this month, the commander “appeared frozen, smiled wryly and said it is banned”.
A Pentagon spokesman later called the suggestion “ridiculous”.
Hashimoto later told the YTV station: "The word 'sex businesses' was inappropriate.
"I must apologise to the US military and American people and retract my comment."
But he refused to retract the other comments about sex slaves. It is believed up to 200,000 women, mainly from Korea and China, were forced to become prostitutes for Japanese soldiers in military brothels.
Mr Hashimoto originally said: "To maintain discipline in the military, it must have been necessary at that time.
"For soldiers who risked their lives in circumstances where bullets are flying around like rain and wind, if you want them to get some rest, a comfort women system was necessary. That's clear to anyone."
Two former sex slaves - now both in their 80s - called publicly for Hashimoto to resign.
Mr Hashimoto is tipped as a future prime minister, despite a string of controversial comments, including 2011's suggestion that Japan needed a dictatorship.
【AFP＝時事】日本維新の会共同代表の橋下徹（Toru Hashimoto）大阪市長は27日、日本外国特派員協会（Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan、FCCJ）で記者会見を行い、第二次世界大戦（WWII）時の旧日本軍の「従軍慰安婦は必要だった」などと発言した問題について3時間近く弁明に追われた。
Besieged mayor blasts press, says other armies also abused females
BY REIJI YOSHIDA
STAFF WRITER
MAY 28, 2013
Japan’s wartime “comfort women” military brothel system can never be “condoned” or “justified” but the world should also address similar human rights violations against females in other conflict zones, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto argued Monday in front of foreign reporters.
Hashimoto, co-leader of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party), held the press conference to salvage his and his party’s fortunes amid the firestorm he sparked with his earlier remarks that the comfort women system was “necessary” during the war, using the Japanese euphemism for the system of sexual servitude involving women and girls forced to work in military brothels.
“I never condoned the use of comfort women. I place the greatest importance on the dignity of the human rights of women,” Hashimoto said in a marathon speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo.
Hashimoto blamed the media for using only excerpts of his remarks at a daily press briefing earlier this month and taking his words out of context when they issued reports worldwide that “resulted in misunderstanding of the remarks,” something he called “extremely regrettable.”
Facing a 300-plus-strong foreign, domestic and freelance journalist contingent, Hashimoto did not apologize for his earlier remarks that the “comfort women (system) was necessary in order to provide relaxation for those brave soldiers who had been in the line of fire.”
He insisted he didn’t mean to say that he considered it necessary for the armed forces to use women, but that the forces believed this was necessary.
Hashimoto meanwhile admitted the Imperial Japanese Army and administrative authorities had a “certain involvement” in running the wartime “comfort stations” in the 1930s and ’40s.
He also said the army and government should be held responsible for the misery suffered by the females forced to provide sex at the brothels.
Given the harsh conditions there and lack of freedom, media and scholars have described the victims as sex slaves.
Hashimoto argued the world should not single out just Japan or associate only this country with the simple shorthand that it exploited “sex slaves.”
Females were sexually violated during World War II by U.S., British, French, German and Soviet soldiers, including women serving in “private-sector brothels,” where many females were presumably abductees or human trafficking victims, Hashimoto argued.
Hashimoto appeared to be trying to deflect the harsh global spotlight cast on Japan’s comfort women system by insisting the forces of other parts of the world also engaged in sex-related crimes and used brothels.
Scholars say, for example, that Nazi Germany had a similar brothel system during the war, and many U.S. soldiers used brothels prepared by the Japanese government specifically for the Allied Occupation forces.
“Japan’s system was bad. But use of private (brothels) was similarly bad, because in such private-sector facilities, too, human trafficking (was) taking place,” Hashimoto claimed.
Many right-leaning Japanese politicians and scholars often try to play down the culpability of the Imperial army and the government in running the comfort stations, arguing that private brokers were the ones who “recruited” the females via various ways, including human trafficking and possibly kidnapping.
But Hashimoto, apparently trying to distance himself from them, repeatedly argued Japan should issue a straightforward apology for the misery of the comfort women now, saying the Japanese army and government “did (get) involved” in running and managing brothels.
Hashimoto also retracted and apologized for his earlier recommendation that U.S. service members in Okinawa make use of sex establishments to prevent sexual crimes in the prefecture.
“I understand that my remark could be construed as an insult to the U.S. forces and to the American people, and therefore was inappropriate,” he said. Whether Monday’s briefing helps reboot the popularity of Hashimoto and his party remains uncertain.
An outspoken Japanese politician apologised yesterday for saying US troops should patronise prostitutes as a way to reduce rapes, but defended another remark about Japan's use of sex slaves during the second world war.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, co-head of an emerging nationalistic party, said his remarks rose from a "sense of crisis" about sexual assaults by US military personnel on Japanese civilians in Okinawa, where US troops are based.
"I understand that my remark could be construed as an insult to the US forces and to the American people" and was inappropriate, he said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Tokyo.
I understand that my remark could be construed as an insult to the US forces and to the American people
Hashimoto created uproar with comments two weeks ago about Japan's wartime and modern sexual services. They added to anger in neighbouring countries that suffered from Japan's wartime aggression and have complained about the lack of atonement for atrocities committed during that time.
Hashimoto said on May 13 that on a recent visit to the southern island of Okinawa, he suggested to the US commander that the troops there "to make better use" of the legal sex industry. "If you don't make use of those places you cannot control the sexual energy of those tough guys," he said.
He also said that Japan's wartime practice of forcing Asian women, mostly from South Korea and China, to work in frontline brothels was necessary to maintain discipline and provide relaxation for soldiers.
He did not apologise for those comments, but he did call the use of so-called comfort women an "inexcusable act that violated the dignity and human rights of the women, in which large numbers of Korean and Japanese were included".
Still, he claimed he had been quoted out of context. He said he was trying to say that armed forces of nations around the world "seem to have needed women" in past wars and also violated women's human rights during wartime.
Singling out Japan was wrong, as this issue also existed in other armed forces during the second world war, he alleged.
Historians say up to 200,000 women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula and China, were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers in military brothels.
This article first appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition on May 28, 2013 as Mayor sorry for prostitute remark
After a deluge of international criticism following his comments on enforced wartime prostitution by the Japanese military, outspoken Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto made a rare appearance in front of the foreign media Monday to explain himself to the world.
In front of 300 journalists, photographers and TV staff, Mr. Hashimoto insisted that the media was to blame for distorting his comments. He spent three hours largely standing his ground and dodging questions about where he stood on the issue of the Japanese military’s wartime involvement in the coercion and trafficking of women?mostly from Japan’s colonies?to military brothels.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto explaining himself Monday
At the same time, he pointed an accusatory finger at the Allied Powers, as well as South Korea, for having their own skeletons in the closet when it came to military exploitation of women.
The appearance of Mr. Hashimoto, co-leader of Japan’s second largest opposition party, came after he said earlier in May that the forcing into prostitution of so-called comfort women by the Japanese military during World War II was “necessary” for maintaining military discipline at the time.
“I find it extremely deplorable that news reports have continued to assume the opposite interpretation of my remarks and to depict me as holding women in contempt,” Mr. Hashimoto said in his opening remarks. “What I intended to convey…was that other nations should also sincerely face the fact that their soldiers violated the human rights of women.”
He added that puritanical values may have prevented countries like the U.S. and U.K. from setting up official military brothels, but “it’s a fact that they were using local women” in the war.
Mr. Hashimoto, who shares leadership of the Japan Restoration Party with rabble-rousing nationalist Shintaro Ishihara, deflected questions about the extent of the Japanese military and government’s involvement in collecting and transporting unwilling women to “comfort stations.” He said this issue should be addressed by historians, not politicians.
“From the viewpoint of respecting the human rights of women, it doesn’t make much difference whether the suffering women are licensed or unlicensed prostitutes and whether or not the armed forces are organizationally involved,” he said.
But he apologized and retracted his suggestion that U.S. servicemen based in Okinawa should utilize the local “adult entertainment” industry to relieve their sexual energy.
Mr. Hashimoto also began almost all his comments with a disclaimer that in no way does he excuse the Japanese military for having inflicted pain and suffering “beyond description” on the women.
The popularity of Mr. Hashimoto’s JRP, which in its pre-launch form a year ago garnered more than double the support of the Liberal Democratic Party in opinion polls, has been falling since the LDP took office in December. But his recent remarks appear to have strengthened the downward trend.
In a Nikkei survey published Monday on July’s upper-house elections, only 3% of those polled said they would vote for the JRP?down six percentage points from last month?while 47% percent said they would vote for the LDP.
Asked if he will step down from party leadership to take responsibility for the turmoil he has generated, Mr. Hashimoto said, “If the Japanese voters reject my recent comments, the JRP will probably take a hammering” in July.
“The party can decide then whether I should stay on as leader,” he said.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto was under fire for the sex comment. However, he still defended another controversial statement about how patronizing brothels during World War II was necessary to help soldiers relax.
TOKYO ? An outspoken Japanese politician apologized Monday for saying U.S. troops should patronize adult entertainment businesses as a way to reduce sex crimes, but defended another inflammatory remark about Japan's use of sex slaves before and during World War II.
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, co-leader of an emerging nationalist party, said his remarks two weeks ago rose from a "sense of crisis" about cases of sexual assaults by U.S. military personnel on Japanese civilians in Okinawa, where a large number of U.S. troops are based under a bilateral security treaty.
Hashimoto also said he had not tried to condone a system of so-called comfort women, but meant to say military authorities at the time, not only in Japan but in many other countries, considered it necessary.
He denied any intention to avoid Japan's responsibility over its wartime actions, adding he wanted to shed light on sex offenses in the battlefield and encourage open debate on the problem today.
"I understand that my remark could be construed as an insult to the U.S. forces and to the American people" and was inappropriate, he told a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo. "I retract this remark and express an apology."
Hashimoto, a lawyer and former TV personality, created an uproar with comments to journalists two weeks ago about Japan's modern and wartime sexual services, which he said were misquoted. The comments added to recent anger in neighboring countries that suffered from Japan's wartime aggression and have complained about a lack of atonement for the atrocities.
Hashimoto said then that the practice of using women from across Asia to work in front-line brothels before and during World War II was necessary to maintain discipline and provide relaxation for soldiers. He added that on a recent visit to the southern island of Okinawa, he suggested to the U.S. commander there that his troops "make better use" of the legal sex industry "to control the sexual energy of those tough guys."
On Monday, Hashimoto called the use of comfort women an "inexcusable act that violated the dignity and human rights of the women, in which large numbers of Korean and Japanese were included." He did not mention women from other countries, such as China, the Philippines and Indonesia, where many teenagers were forced into sex slavery.
He said Japan must express deep remorse and apologize to the women. He repeatedly denied any intention to whitewash Japan's wartime responsibility.
But he didn't apologize for those comments about Japan's wartime brothels, and insisted that the country's wartime government did not systematically force girls and women into prostitution.
Historians say up to 200,000 women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula and China, were forced to provide sex for Japanese soldiers in military brothels. While some other World War II armies had military brothels, Japan is the only country accused of such widespread, organized sexual slavery.
"If only Japan is blamed because of the widely held view that the state authority of Japan was intentionally involved in the abduction and trafficking of women, I will have to inform you that this view is incorrect," he said.
Hashimoto urged the government to clarify or revise Japan's landmark apology in a 1993 statement by then-Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono to clearly state that Japan did not systematically force women into prostitution for its wartime military.
The Kono apology acknowledged the military's involvement, both direct and indirect, in the forced recruitment of the women.
Hashimoto said the apology does not say whether the operation was run under "state will" and that such murkiness has contributed to longstanding disputes between Japan and South Korea over the issue. He raised doubts of accounts by some of the women who have come forward as victims of Japan's sexual slavery as reliable evidence of coercion.
Before taking office in December, Abe advocated revising the Kono apology, but now says he stands by it.
Hashimoto said he was quoted out of context in saying he believed that the use the system was necessary. He said he was trying to say that armed forces around the world "seem to have needed women" in past wars and had violated women's human rights during wartime.
Singling out Japan was wrong, as this issue also existed in the armed forces of the United States, Britain, France, Germany and the former Soviet Union during World War II, he alleged, without elaborating.
"Based on the premise that Japan must remorsefully face its past offenses and must never justify the offenses, I intended to argue that other nations in the world must not attempt to conclude the matter by blaming only Japan and by associating Japan alone with the simple phrase of 'sex slaves' or 'sex slavery,"' Hashimoto said in a statement to journalists.
Hashimoto's suggestion to the U.S. troops brought sharp criticism from Washington. The State Department called Hashimoto's comments "outrageous and offensive."
Okinawa was invaded by U.S. forces in World War II and has had an American military presence since. The 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by two Marines and a sailor spread rage across the island, and more rapes and other crimes linked to U.S. servicemen over the years, along with military land use and aircraft noise, have caused longstanding anti-U.S. military sentiment there.
Hashimoto, 43, has become well known in recent years for his outspokenness. Last year, he formed the Japan Restoration Party with former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, a strident nationalist. It is now an opposition party in parliament.
The mayor of Osaka has courted controversy for a second time by claiming that there is "no evidence" that the Japanese government forced tens of thousands of women into sexual enslavement during World War II.
Toro Hashimoto first drew international criticism when he said that the so-called "comfort women" were "necessary" for Japan's wartime troops. He has since described the practice as a violation of the women's human rights.
Mr Hashimoto has also accused the armies of the United States, Britain, France and Germany of similar actions during the conflict.
Toru Hashimoto, the controversial mayor of Osaka, has apologised for suggesting that US troops in Japan should visit commercial sex establishments as a way of reducing the number of sexual assaults.
But he defended his claim that Japan's military government played no direct part in recruiting tens of thousands of Asian women to work in frontline brothels before and during the second world war.
Hashimoto, who is also co-leader of the rightwing Japan Restoration party, drew widespread condemnation earlier this month when he said the military's use of sex slaves in the 1930s and 40s had been necessary to maintain discipline among Japanese troops fighting in China and on the Korean peninsula.
On Monday, the former lawyer, until recently a rising star of Japanese politics , claimed his comments about US troops on Okinawa had been misreported.
More than half of the 48,000 American troops in Japan are based on the island, where rapes and other crimes by servicemen have long been a source of resentment among residents.
"My real intention was to prevent a mere handful of US soldiers from committing crimes and strengthen the Japan-US alliance and the relations of trust between the two nations," Hashimoto told a packed press conference in Tokyo.
He said he had suggested that troops use the "legally accepted adult entertainment industry" out of a "sense of crisis" over sexual assaults by US servicemen.
"I understand that my remark could be construed as an insult to the US forces and to the American people and was inappropriate. I retract this remark and express an apology."
Hashimoto did not apologise, however, for his remarks about comfort women, the name given to as many as 200,000 mainly Korean and Chinese girls and women forced to have sex with Japanese troops.
Again, he blamed inaccurate reporting, saying that he did not personally believe military brothels were a wartime necessity, but that armies "around the world" had thought they were.
He said the US, Britain, France, Germany and Russia also needed to reflect on the sexual abuse of women during the war, but did not offer any evidence that those countries had operated "comfort stations" ? brothels where girls as young as 13 were forced to have sex with as many as 20 soldiers a day - on a similar scale.
"Based on the premise that Japan must remorsefully face its past offences and must never justify the offences, I intended to argue that other nations in the world must not attempt to conclude the matter by blaming only Japan and by associating Japan alone with the simple phrase of 'sex slaves' or 'sex slavery'," Hashimoto said.
While he believes Japan should apologise to the surviving comfort women, many of whom are in their 80s and 90s, he said there was no evidence that the Japanese state had been directly involved in trafficking them. Instead, he claimed private brokers had recruited the women, some of whom were taken to the brothels in Japanese military vehicles and ships.
"I am not suggesting that Japan should evade responsibility … what I'm focusing on is historical fact," he said. "The most important aspect is whether it was the will of the state to be involved in a systematic manner."
Hashimoto conceded that the controversy surrounding his remarks could damage his party's prospects at upper house elections due in July. A poll in the Nikkei business paper showed support for his Restoration party at just 3%, down six percentage points from last month.
Tokyo (CNN) -- A controversial Japanese politician apologized Monday for suggesting that U.S. military service members should use the adult entertainment industry in Japan more often to relieve sexual frustration and reduce aggression.
But he didn't back down over comments he made about the Japanese military's use of forced prostitution during World War II.
Japanese politician calls wartime sex slaves 'necessary'
Toru Hashimoto, the mayor of Osaka, stirred outrage in Japan and around the world with a series of comments this month about the treatment of women by the military.
Korean 'Comfort women' demand justice 2012: Ignoring Japan's comfort women
He had said May 13 that he had told a U.S. military commander during a trip to a base on the island of Okinawa that the adult entertainment business in Japan should be "utilized more" by U.S. personnel.
"I told him there are places that operate within the boundaries of the law which can be used for releasing sexual frustration, so they (the U.S. military) should fully utilize it or the Marines won't be able to control their aggressive sexual desires."
In a statement delivered Monday at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan in Tokyo, Hashimoto acknowledged that his comment "could be construed as an insult to the U.S. forces and to the American people, and therefore was inappropriate."
Hashimoto, who is also a co-leader of the nationalist Japan Restoration Party, said he retracted the remark and apologized for it.
He said it was prompted by "a strong sense of crisis" he felt in light of a series of recent sexual abuse cases involving U.S. service members in Japan.
Opinion: Japanese politicians still struggle with wartime past
'Comfort women' controversy
But he said comments attributed to him that described women forced to become prostitutes to entertain Japanese troops during World War II as "necessary" had been taken out of context.
On May 13, he said "anyone would understand" the role of "comfort women" when soldiers were risking their lives and you wanted to give them "a rest."
"Comfort women" is the term used for the 200,000 women whom historians estimate were forced to become sex slaves for Japan's former Imperial Army.
Hashimoto's comments about them had provoked an international outcry, especially in Asian countries occupied by Japan during the war, such as South Korea and China. The U.S. government called the words "outrageous and offensive."
Hashimoto didn't offer an apology Monday for those comments, claiming that he had been talking about sexual violations by military personnel in a more general sense.
He also disputed that forcible recruitment of women during the war was conducted as government policy.
"I stated that 'the armed forces of nations in the world' seemed to have needed women 'during the past wars,' " he said. "Then it was wrongly reported that I myself thought it as necessary for armed forces to use women and that 'I' tolerated it."
Japan not only culprit, mayor says
He repeated the assertion he made previously that "sexual violation in wartime was not an issue unique to the former Japanese army."
"The issue existed in the armed forces of the U.S.A., the UK, France, Germany and the former Soviet Union among others during World War II," he said.
"It also existed in the armed forces of the Republic of Korea during the Korean War and the Vietnam War," Hashimoto added, using the official name of South Korea.
"If only Japan is blamed, because of the widely held view that the state authority of Japan was intentionally involved in the abduction and trafficking of women, I will have to inform you that this view is incorrect," he said.
He did, however, recognize that the Japanese military had caused suffering to comfort women.
"We must express our deep remorse at the violation of the human rights of these women by the Japanese soldiers in the past, and make our apology to the women," he said.
In 1993, the Japanese government released a statement acknowledging the "immeasurable pain and suffering" endured by thousands of women forced into sex during World War II. It even vowed to include the comfort women issue in new junior high school textbooks for the first time.
Mayor Hashimoto’s comment is outrageous and offensive. As the United States has stated previously, what happened in that era to those women, who were trafficked for sexual purposes, is deplorable and clearly grave human right violations of enormous proportions. We understand that mayor Hashimoto is planning to travel to the United States, but in the light of these statements, we are not sure that anyone will want to meet with him.
【5月27日 AFP】（一部更新）第2次世界大戦（World War II）中の仏ノルマンディー（Normandy）上陸作戦に参加した米軍兵士たちは、フランスをナチスドイツ（Nazi）から解放した勇敢な英雄として描かれてきた。そうした「若いハンサムな米兵さん」のイメージに隠された負の側面を明らかにした研究書が来月、米国で出版される。
6月に刊行予定の「What Soldiers Do: Sex and the American GI in World War II France（兵士らは何をしたのか：第2次世界大戦中のフランスにおける性と米兵」は、米ウィスコンシン大学（University of Wisconsin）のメアリー・ルイーズ・ロバーツ（Mary Louise Roberts）教授（歴史学）が、米仏で膨大な量の第2次大戦中の資料を研究してまとめた著作だ。
例えば、写真ジャーナリズムの草分けである米誌「ライフ（Life）」は、フランスを「快楽主義者4000万人が住む巨大な売春宿」と表現した。また、米軍機関紙「星条旗新聞（Stars and Stripes）」は、フランス女性を口説くためのフランス語フレーズを連載。「きみ、とても可愛いね」「たばこをあげようか」「ご両親は今、家にいるの？」といった会話の糸口を紹介していた。