OSAKA -- A meeting between Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, also co-leader of the opposition Japan Restoration Party, and two women who were recruited by the Japanese military into sexual servitude as the so-called " comfort women" during World War II was canceled, city officials said on Friday. The cancellation of the meeting came amid continuing criticism of Hashimoto's recent remarks on the "comfort women" system.

A spokesperson for the city said to Xinhua that the meeting had been originally planned at a conference room of the city hall from 11:00 a.m. local time but a support group to organize the event notified the city of the women's decision to refuse the meeting by the time.

Members of the support group, meanwhile, told local reporters that the two women did not want the mayor to make use of the talks for his political purposes to further justify his position and his party.

According to local media including one by the daily Asahi Shimbun, Hashimoto admitted last week that what the Japanese military did for the women was "evil" and "unforgivable." But he has not budged on his additional statement that sexual exploitation of women was not unique to Japan at all, insisting that a look back for example at the history of the U.S. occupation of Japan shows that American troops used Japanese women for the same purpose as well.