Japan has repeatedly refused lawsuits by so-called "comfort women" who were forced into sexual slavery to serve Japanese soldiers during their conquest of Asia.

Thursday's case was different in that the victims were not slaves but women or girls who were raped at their homes or at Japanese army bases in Shanxi province between 1941 and 1943.

The Tokyo High Court acknowledged that Japanese soldiers raped the 10 victims who were then teenagers or in their early 20s. Six of them are still alive with the four deceased represented by their families.

Presiding judge Toshimi Ohuchi said there was no legal framework for the plaintiffs to sue the state for the war-time crimes.

However, he said he hoped the government would take measures to compensate the victims, repeating a comment from a lower court which rejected their suit in 2003.

The plaintiffs, who are asking the Japanese government to pay them 20 million yen (187,000 dollars) each, plan to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Historians say at least 200,000 young women, mostly Korean but also from Taiwan, China, the Philippines and Indonesia, were forced to serve as sex slaves in Japanese army brothels during the war.

Japan argues that the 20-year period for suits has expired and that treaties provided for reparations to states, not individuals.

In the latest case, the Tokyo High Court on March 18 rejected a compensation claim by two Chinese woman who said they had been sex slaves, prompting the Chinese foreign ministry to say it was "strongly dissatisfied."

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