Japan’s most respected elder statesman was forced yesterday to contradict an autobiographical account suggesting that as an officer during the Second World War he forced women to serve as military sex slaves.

Yasuhiro Nakasone, a former prime minister, admitted that Japanese forces forced women to serve on “comfort stations”, the euphemism for military brothels. He denied allegations, based on an account he wrote 29 years ago, that he organised brothels as a military logistics officer in the Imperial Navy on Borneo.

“They were civilian engineers, not military people, and they just wanted a place for rest or entertainment,” he told a press conference. “They wanted entertainment such as [the board game] Go or Japanese chess. We simply established facilities where such [diversions] could be offered.”

In a 1978 essay, published in a volume entitled The Eternal Navy, he wrote about his time in the former Dutch East Indies: “Before long some [people] started attacking local women and indulging in gambling. I took great pains to set up a comfort station for such people.”

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