Japan protests after Chinese plane flies over disputed isles

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan made an official protest to China on Thursday after a Chinese government plane entered what Japan considers its airspace over disputed islets in the East China Sea, the Foreign Ministry said in Tokyo.

The incident prompted Japan's military to scramble eight F-15 fighter jets, the Defence Ministry said.

Sino-Japanese relations took a tumble after Japan bought the tiny islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, from a private Japanese owner in September.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Michael Watson)