Osaka Mayor and Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) coleader Toru Hashimoto Saturday defended his remarks on Japan's wartime sex slave system and criticized media outlets for running misleading reports.
On a TV program, Hashimoto said he would not tolerate forcing women into such services. Earlier in the week, he came under a barrage of criticism for saying the "comfort women" system was necessary during the war.
"I meant that countries around the world thought at the time that comfort women were necessary. The subject (of the sentence) is not I," he said, blaming the media for issuing partial or misleading reports.