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 did n'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 . 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 wo n'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 did n'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 . Can 'womenomics ' save Japan ? CNN 's Yoko Wakatsuki reported from Tokyo , and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong .
Toru Hashimoto does n't apologize for his `` comfort women '' comments . He says they were taken out of context . He retracts a remark urging U.S. military personnel in Japan to use the sex industry more . Comment: