Nakasone described his early childhood and youth as a happy one, and himself as a "quiet, easy-going child" nicknamed "Yat-chan". He attended a local primary school in Takasaki and was a poor student until the fourth grade, after which he excelled and was at the top of his class. He entered Shizuoka Higher School in 1935, where he excelled in history and literature, and learned to speak fluent French. In the autumn of 1938, Nakasone entered the Faculty of Law of the Imperial University of Tokyo. During World War II, he was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as a paymaster. As a lieutenant, he was stationed at Balikpapan in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, to build an airfield. There, he realized that the construction of the airfield had been stalled due to the prevalence of sexual crimes, gambling, and other problems among his men, so he gathered comfort women and organized a brothel called “comfort station” as a solution. He managed to procure four Indonesian women, and a Navy report praised him for having “mitigated the mood of his troops". His decision to provide comfort women to his troops was replicated by thousands of Imperial Japanese Army and Navy officers across the Indo-Pacific both before and during World War II, as a matter of policy. From Nauru to Vietnam, from Burma to Timor, women were treated as the first reward of conquest. He later wrote of his return to Tokyo in August 1945 after Japan's surrender: "I stood vacantly amid the ruins of Tokyo, after discarding my officer's short sword and removing the epaulettes of my uniform. As I looked around me, I swore to resurrect my homeland from the ashes of defeat".
Nakasone described his early childhood and youth as a happy one and himself as a "quiet easy-going child" nicknamed "Yat-chan" He attended a local primary school in Takasaki and was a poor student until the fourth grade after which he excelled and was at the top of his class He entered Shizuoka Higher School in 1935 where he excelled in history and literature and learned to speak fluent French In the autumn of 1938 Nakasone entered the Faculty of Law of the Imperial University of Tokyo During World War II he was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy as a paymaster As a lieutenant he was stationed at Balikpapan in East Kalimantan Indonesia to build an airfield There he realized that the construction of the airfield had been stalled due to the prevalence of sexual crimes gambling and other problems among his men so he gathered comfort women and organized a brothel called “comfort station” as a solution He managed to procure four Indonesian women and a Navy report praised him for having “mitigated the mood of his troops" His decision to provide comfort women to his troops was replicated by thousands of Imperial Japanese Army and Navy officers across the Indo-Pacific both before and during World War II as a matter of policy From Nauru to Vietnam from Burma to Timor women were treated as the first reward of conquest He later wrote of his return to Tokyo in August 1945 after Japan's surrender "I stood vacantly amid the ruins of Tokyo after discarding my officer's short sword and removing the epaulettes of my uniform As I looked around me I swore to resurrect my homeland from the ashes of defeat"