TOKYO (AP) -- 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 also co-leader of an emerging conservative political party, told reporters that there wasn't clear evidence that the Japanese military coerced women to become what are euphemistically called "comfort women."
"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."
In this May 13, 2013 photo, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto answers reporters' questions at the Osaka city office in Osaka, western Japan. Osaka's outspoken mayor has said the system in which Asian women were forced to become wartime prostitutes before and during World War II was necessary to "maintain discipline" in the Japanese military. Credit: AP
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 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.
Right-leaning Japan Restoration Party co-leader and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, right, holds a name plate of former Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, the party co-leader who won the parliamentary election, after placing rosette as he observes the result of the parliamentary election in Osaka, western Japan, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012. Japanese media exit polls showed the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party won a clear majority in parliamentary elections, signaling a rightward shift in the government that could further heighten tensions with China. Credit: AP
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's comments came amid 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 that 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 view, but he expressed concerns about possible repercussions.
"We should ask his real intentions and stop this at some point," he said.
