Typical Japan.
Back during the height of the Diaoyu Island dispute they also claimed that "China begged the Americans on all fours to allow them to send people and plant a flag on the Senkakus to placate their own masses".
Japan really likes to invent stuff for the sake of humiliating China. In their mind, China is just a humiliation away from a second Tiananmen. Dont believe me? Read their internet and watch their TV. In fact, this has history; just like how they painted propaganda paintings of Admiral Deng Shichang kneeling infront of Japanese Officers and surrendering to them after the defeat of the Beiyang Fleet in the 1st Sino-Japanese War, even though he actually stayed onboard the Zhiyuan and sunk along with his warship. Japan really loves to imagine and fabricate stories that make China look 1. Bad, 2. Cowardly and 3. Incompetent and Dumb.
I consider this story belonging to the same category.