Who owns Senkaku and why anyone cares

Senkaku is currently a chain of uninhabited islands that is currently at the heart of the chill in the China and Japan relationship. GlobalSecurity.org has taken a very in-depth look at the controversy surrounding this group of uninhabited islands (overall I recommend for everyone to take a look at this site, as it is one of the best all around resources on the internet). At the heart of the territorial dispute over this chain of islands is the oil and natural gas that is underneath these volcanic rocks. Japan, whose ownership of the islands China is disputing, has as of 1996 declared an exclusive economic zone (EEZ = 200 nm) around these islands.
However, last year China began to drill for natural gas just 3 miles west of the median line between the two countries. Now Japan claims that this Chinese drilling is actually taking away the resources that are in its EEZ. China has said that since the Senkaku islands are its territorial possessions Japan has no claim to the resources.
In response to Chinese drilling, Japan is allowing the exploration and development of the fields on its side of the EEZ. China has said that this permission is a provocation and is illegal.

I just bring this up to point out that the anti-Japanese unrest that is currently happening in China just happens to coincide with the fact that China and Japan have begun to battle over their rights in the East China Sea and the surrounding areas. In addition, I would like to mention that when after WWII the United States controlled the islands, and then in 1972 Japan regained the possession of Senkaku chain of islands China did not object to these dealings. It only began to claim the islands after it was discovered that the area surrounding the islands possessed vest natural resources.