Far East rings in lunar new year

Many people in Asia have been marking the Lunar New Year, when millions of people travel to be with their families.

The occasion may give people in Japan and China some respite from the current tension between the two nations.

The Lunar New Year is marked across Asia, particularly by the ethnic Chinese, with traditional dances and lots of food.

There are even some festivities in Japan, where it happens to be a public holiday weekend this year.

But there's no rest for the crews Japan Coast Guard and Chinese patrol ships facing off against each other in waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands.

Both governments have now accused the other of lying over an incident last month in which a Chinese warship allegedly switched on a weapons-targetting radar and aimed it at a Japanese destroyer.

Japan's defence minister said it likely constituted a "threat of force" as defined by the United Nations.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said the world needs to understand what China is up to.

Beijing insists the Senkaku islands are rightfully Chinese territory, and in the past five months has ratcheted up pressure on Japan to abandon them.

But there have been limits to China's actions: it has stopped short of sending military vessels or aircraft to the islands.

And, domestically, authorities have tried to calm nationalist anti-Japan sentiment: in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday, they reportedly ordered that shops cease selling one brand of firework. That firework's name is "Nuke Tokyo."

Listen to Alastair Wanklyn’s report: