Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday condemned a Chinese weekly newspaper that declared "Japan wants a war again" and printed a map showing cartoon mushroom clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Abe administration plans to take up the matter with the newspaper, Kishida said
Speaking at a news conference, he said it was "imprudent" of the Chongqing Youth News to carry the illustration in its July 3 edition, as it would offend survivors of the atomic bombings.
"I have instructed the ministry to refer the case swiftly to the paper through the Consulate General of Japan in Chongqing, and to make a strong protest — after confirming the facts about the report," Kishida said.
"As the foreign minister of the only country that has suffered from atomic bombings and a lawmaker from bombed Hiroshima, I can never tolerate" such a report, he said.
Kishida said he found it "extremely regrettable" that the newspaper declared "Japan wants a war again," an accusation he called groundless because Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said Japan will never wage war.
On July 1, Abe's Cabinet allowed Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense, which means to defend an ally under armed attack.
"There is no change at all to the path Japan has followed as a peace-loving nation," Kishida said. "We will continue to carefully explain (the government's position) to other countries so as to make Japan's security policy properly understood."