Ex-WWII sex slave Virginia Manalastas (left) protests outside the Japanese embassy in Manila, on March 8, 2005

File picture taken on March 8, 2005 shows a former World War II sex slave Virginia Manalastas (left) and other women protesting outside the Japanese embassy in Manila. The combative mayor of Osaka has taken on Japan’s foreign press corps in a nearly three-hour defence of his comments on wartime sex slaves.