A record 86.7 percent of Japanese "do not feel friendly" toward China, a Japanese government poll showed Friday, as bilateral relations remain tense over a number of issues.

The annual poll, conducted from Sept. 7 to Oct. 15, followed China's total ban on marine products shipped from Japan that was imposed last August in response to the discharge into the sea of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The record figure, up from 81.8 percent in the previous survey, was the highest since the question was added in 1978 to the annual diplomatic surveys conducted by the Cabinet Office.

While China fiercely opposed the water discharge, Japan criticized the import ban, saying the release was in line with global safety standards.

Reflecting the deterioration in bilateral ties, a record-low 12.7 percent of respondents said they "feel friendly" toward China.

A Foreign Ministry official told reporters the outcome may reflect the public's "great interest in various pending issues with China."

Bilateral tensions have also grown amid repeated intrusions by Chinese vessels in waters around the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea that are claimed by Beijing, which calls them Diaoyu.

In the survey, a record-low 68.2 percent said Sino-Japanese ties are "important," down from 73.5 percent, while 27.8 percent said they are "not important," up from 22.1 percent.

The poll also showed that 90.1 percent view bilateral relations as "not good," compared with 5.6 percent who view them as "good."

Meanwhile, the survey showed an improvement in sentiment regarding South Korea, with 52.8 percent saying they "feel friendly" toward the country, up from 45.9 percent, and 46.4 percent saying they "do not feel friendly," down from 53.7 percent.

The official said many Japanese may view relations with South Korea as having recovered since conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol took office in May 2022, with the popularity of K-pop music also a factor.

Under the administration of Yoon's predecessor Moon Jae In, bilateral relations sank to their worst point in years, mainly over issues related to Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula, including a row over wartime labor compensation.

As for Russia, 95.3 percent of Japanese said they "do not feel friendly" toward the country, a record high for the second straight year, compared with 4.1 percent who "feel friendly."

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government has imposed economic sanctions on Moscow.

The mail-in survey of 3,000 Japanese nationals aged 18 or older living in the country, received valid responses from 1,649, or 55.0 percent. The government started conducting similar polls in 1975 to help formulate its foreign policy.

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