Japan to name 39 uninhabited isles

Japan plans to give official names to 39 uninhabited islands that serve as the basis for the boundary of the country's exclusive economic zone, or EEZ.

The plan emerged after the government found that 7 islands around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea remain nameless in official documents.

In 2010 a Chinese trawler collided with two Japan Coast Guard patrol ships in Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands.

The Japanese government says it plans to strengthen control of the key islands by officially naming them. The step is also designed to clearly demonstrate Japan's EEZ border to other nations and at home.

The government is asking local authorities what the islands are called in their areas.

It plans to decide the names and put them on maps and sea charts by the end of March after consulting agencies concerned.

Of Japan's more than 6,000 remote islands, most are uninhabited. Some have no agreed upon names.