Since Japan nationalized three Senkaku islets in the East China Sea on Sept. 11, 2012, ties between Japan and China ties have remained chilly. In an effort to improve bilateral relations, both sides should make strenuous efforts to find a new way to shelve the Senkaku issue.

Japan and China signed a peace and friendship treaty in 1978. Polls carried out around 1980 showed that more than 70 percent of Chinese and Japanese felt affinity for each other's country. In stark contrast, polls taken this June and July showed that more than 90 percent of Chinese and Japanese hold a bad impression of each other's country. Japanese who visited China on business and for tourism in the first half of this year numbered 1,399,200, a 25.5 percent dip from the same period of 2012. The number of Chinese who visited Japan in the same period declined 27 percent to 536,200. According to the Japan External Trade Organization, two-way trade between Japan and China in the first half of this year fell 10.8 percent from a year before — the first drop in four years. Japan's investment in China fell 31.2 percent in the same period.

While extremely regrettable, the downturn in bilateral relations is not surprising. In both countries, the actions of politicians, members of the media and even ordinary citizens have stirred ill feelings and nationalistic sentiment on both sides.