Translations of Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto's remarks on Japan's wartime sex slaves posted on Facebook by a women's group have provoked heated reactions from all over the world.
All Japan Obachan Party, a group set up by Osaka-based middle-aged women in November, translated Hashimoto's recent remarks into seven languages — English, Chinese, Korean, French, Spanish, Russian and Dutch — and posted them on the online social-networking service.
Hashimoto, the coleader of Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party), said the wartime sex slave system was necessary and noted U.S. Marines should use sex establishments in Japan.
"Dear friends all over the world, what do you think?" the group asks on its Facebook page.
"How barbaric! And he's a mayor?!" read one comment. "He should be removed from his office," said another in English.
"At first, we thought it would be embarrassing if we posted the messages to the world," said Mayumi Taniguchi, an associate professor at Osaka International University and a representative of the group. "But we wanted to know how his words would be considered based on global standards."
Taniguchi said the group doesn't plan to file any sort of protest with Hashimoto.
Many of the comments praised the group for translating the remarks, some even asking the group to include more languages, such as Arabic.
"Canadian men support AJOP!" a Canadian man wrote on the page.