The official websites of the town of Kamiyama and the village of Sanagouchi, both in Tokushima Prefecture, were vandalized on the 18th, various news outlets have reported. Both websites had Chinese writing and images of an area map including southern Japan, China, and Taiwan, with location markings for the Senkaku islands and a “Chinese fishing boat”. The attacks allegedly originated from inside China, and are thought to be a reaction to the Japanese government’s handling of the recent arrest and continued detention of the captain of a Chinese fishing boat that collided with two Japanese Coast Guard patrol vessels in disputed waters earlier this month.

Officials in both municipalities are scratching their heads – and more than a little miffed – as to why the hackers would target them.

Update: Yamaguchi University websites were also hacked, it turns out. According to the university, slanderous comments such as “Japan is swine” and “[Japan] should come under Chinese rule” were left on laboratory websites on the 18th, and the university allegedly found screenshots and a message crowing the success of the hack on a Chinese-language bulletin board website.

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