Originally, the brothels were established to provide soldiers with voluntary prostitutes in order to reduce the incidence of wartime rape, a cause of rising anti-Japanese sentiment across occupied territories. However, many women ended up being forced to work in the brothels against their own will. According to testimonies, some young women were abducted from their homes in countries under Imperial Japanese rule. In many cases, local middlemen tasked with procuring prostitutes for the military lured women with promises of work in factories or restaurants. In some cases propaganda advocated equity and the sponsorship of women in higher education. Other enticements were false advertising for nursing jobs at outposts or Japanese army bases; once recruited, they were incarcerated in comfort stations both inside their nations and abroad.;;;.</ref>