Japan says it will name 39 uninhabited islands, including some at the center of a dispute with China.

Japan said Monday the islands will be named by the end of March and used on new maps that will delineate the area Japan claims as its exclusive economic zone.

Some of the islands are within an area known as the Senkaku island chain in Japan, or the Daioyu chain in China, which also claims the islands.

Ties between Japan and China have been strained for years over the disputed islands – a contested gas field in the East China Sea – and lingering animosity over Tokyo's often brutal World War Two-era occupation of China.