Japan criticizes Chinese newspaper that printed mushroom clouds on map

A Chinese newspaper was criticized by Japan Tuesday after it printed a map of the island country with mushroom clouds above Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Reuters reported.

"As foreign minister of the only country that has suffered nuclear attacks, and as a politician from Hiroshima, I cannot tolerate this," Fumio Kishida, the Japanese foreign minister, said.

The two governments are involved in a dispute over ownership of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. China has expressed unease about Japan's reinterpretation of its pacifist constitution to ease restrictions on military activity.

Relations worsened after Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited a shrine in Tokyo late last year that honors Japan's war dead, including convicted war criminals.

Soon after, officials at Japanese broadcaster NHK drew fire when one denied that the 1937 massacre in Nanjing of thousands of Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers happened and another downplayed the Imperial Army's use of sex slaves.

In recent months, Beijing has tried to draw foreign attention to Japanese wartime aggression.

"As the butcher of World War II, the blood on Japan's hands has yet to dry," the regional newspaper that published the picture wrote.

The Reuters report points out that Japan has apologized for its actions during the war.

The Associated Press contributed to this report