TOKYO -- Something funny is going on in the waters around the Senkaku Islands, and it's making Japan nervous.
There has been a precipitous decline in the presence of Chinese government surveillance vessels around the group of islets in the East China sea, which are controlled by Japan but claimed by China. At the same time, the number of Chinese fishing vessels operating in the area has surged, a development some see Beijing's new approach in pursuing its territorial claims.
