An elder Japanese man living in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu Province, has raised the ire of locals after being accused in a television report of slashing car tires and denying the holocaust that was committed by Japanese soldiers during the World War II.

Nantong television reported the man was questioned by police and is suspected of puncturing over 100 car tires in a residential community. Blurry, nighttime images captured from surveillance video, and posted on the television station's website, show a man bending over the rear tires of two vehicles on two different dates this month.

The report said local police have not taken the man into custody due to his health concerns.

Local police confirmed with the Global Times that it is investigating a Japanese citizen in connection with the tire slashing, but would not answer further questions on Sunday.

Nantong TV reported the man is a Karate instructor who told his students that Japan was not responsible for the massacre of Chinese civilians in the late 1930s. 

It is widely accepted that Japanese soldiers killed 300,000 mostly civilians in late 1937 in the provincial capital of Nanjing alone.

Released on the weekend, perhaps to mark the 75th anniversary of the July 7 Incident, which started the Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), the report has raised concerns of netizens. 

A Sina Weibo user named Liberty-Bird said the Japanese man should be deported. And another named Luohuatangmao called for calm.

"Sino-Japanese relations have been deeply affected by history, and some inappropriate personal behavior by some Japanese have caused a sensation between the two countries," said Su Jingxiang, a professor from the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

"This non-official action cannot affect the two countries' relation," Su told the Global Times.

Japan has never provided satisfactory atonement nor conceded the number of victims was as high as evidence and personal accounts attest.