Chinese textbooks are “extreme” in their interpretation of history, Japan’s foreign minister said today.

China said diplomatic relations with Japan were at a three-decade low and that Tokyo – by refusing to face up to its militaristic past – was to blame.

Japan is disappointed by China’s lack of regret over anti-Japanese protests in Chinese cities and its failure to explain how the rallies escalated into riots that left windows smashed at Japanese diplomatic missions, the top government spokesman said today.

CHINA told Japan bluntly yesterday that it had nothing to apologise for after weeks of anti-Japanese protests, some violent, in cities across the country.

China refused to apologise today for three weekends of violent anti-Japanese demonstrations that damaged Tokyo’s Beijing embassy and a consulate in protests over Japan’s wartime history and campaign for a permanent UN Security Council seat.

Japan’s foreign minister called on China to denounce violent anti-Japanese protests as Chinese nationalists prepared for a third weekend of demonstrations over Tokyo’s wartime aggression and its campaign for a UN Security Council seat.

The fate of four contested islands in the fertile fishing waters of the Sea of Okhotsk was expected to dominate talks today between Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Japan’s cabinet is likely to decide next week whether to extend its humanitarian mission in Iraq, the country's foreign minister said today.

The Japanese government confirmed today that a decapitated body found in Iraq is that of a Japanese man taken hostage by Islamic militants earlier this week.