The Shukan Post also printed an article that claimed to draw on academic research to conclude that South Koreans have a pathological inability to control their own anger. It is this failure, it added, that is largely to blame for the deteriorating relationship between Seoul and Tokyo.

The Asahi editorial said the premise of the entire article “is nothing less than racist”.

When the Shukan Post ran its story about “troublesome neighbours”, publisher Shogakukan Inc. said it was inundated with angry phone calls and letters. Novelist Ushio Fukuzawa was among those to vent their anger, accusing the magazine in a Facebook post of “fanning discrimination” and saying she would no longer contribute to the magazine. Philosopher Tatsuru Uchida also vowed never to write for the publisher again.

Yu Miri, an award-winning author of Korean heritage, said the report about Koreans being unable to control their temper “is nothing but hate speech that stokes racial discrimination and hatred”.

Makoto Watanabe, an associate professor of media and communications at Hokkaido Bunkyo University, agrees that a lot of Japan’s tabloids are fanning the fires of the dispute – but he also fears that the Japanese media is only giving readers exactly what they want to consume.

“Young people don’t read newspapers or magazines any more so they get their news from social media. So the papers and tabloid magazines – in particular – are having to be more provocative and controversial in their coverage,” he said.

“That means we end up with what are essentially ‘hate speech’ headlines,” Watanabe said. “That might appeal to the middle-aged and older men who tend to read these magazines but it is likely to be very damaging to our relations with Korea in the longer run.”

Japan has around 20 major weekly or monthly news magazines, more than a quarter of which are conservative in their editorial leanings and some of which have close ties with other right-wing media, notably the Yomiuri newspaper and the even more outspokenly nationalist Sankei Shimbun.

Several of the bestselling publications have a track record of courting controversy with their articles.

Shukan Shincho, Shukan Bunshun and Marco Polo have repeatedly published articles claiming the Holocaust never happened.

In an article in Marco Polo in February 1995, for example, writer Masanori Nishioka stated: “There were no execution gas chambers in Auschwitz or in any other concentration camp. Not once, neither at Auschwitz nor in any territory controlled by the Germans during the Second World War, was there ‘mass murder of Jews’ in gas chambers.” It later apologised and was closed down.

Similarly, Shukan Shincho has been found guilty of libel for claiming a member of the Soka Gakkai religion committed murder and other publications have on more than one occasion printed the names and photographs of minors accused of crimes before their trials have begun, in contravention of the law.

“The tabloids do not have as large a readership as the big newspapers, but they arguably have just as much influence,” said Watanabe. “In recent years, we have seen the emergence of what has been called the ‘Bunshun kennel’ effect, by which stories that are printed by the tabloids are picked up by social media and even mainstream media, meaning they are read by more and more people and have a stronger impact.

“Some of what the tabloids do is good investigative journalism and important – uncovering political scandals and so on – but most of these publications are on the right of politics and that is reflected in their coverage.”

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Watanabe said a “healthy debate” on pressing issues should be encouraged in society. “But we cannot go beyond acceptable limits. The media cannot change the reality in their reports and they should not openly promote negative feelings or distrust towards others.”

Given the deep mistrust that currently exists between Tokyo and Seoul, it would appear difficult to bridge the gap which has emerged.

There have been suggestions that South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her newly appointed Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, might be able to hold talks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week, although it is unlikely that either government is willing to cede significant ground.

The Asahi editorial concluded that debate on Japan’s relations with its neighbours “should be underpinned by a solid commitment to rejecting any form of discrimination”.

It may, however, already be too late for that, as the tabloids’ techniques appear to have been adopted by the arguably more powerful medium of television.

On a CBC Television news programme aired in August, a panel was discussing the attack on a Japanese tourist in Seoul by a South Korean man. The incident was shared widely on social media.

One of the analysts taking part in the programme said: “Japanese men should also assault South Korean women when they come to Japan.”

With additional reporting by Kyodo