The group had sailed from Hong Kong to the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
Japanese coastguard vessels had followed them, but the group jumped into the water and swam to one island.
The landing came with Japan embroiled in another row over islands with South Korea, and as two ministers visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Japan had lodged a diplomatic protest with China over the activists.
"We have just lodged our complaints via diplomatic channels in both China and Hong Kong," he said.
China's Foreign Ministry also said it was "contacting the Japanese side to lodge representations over five Chinese nationals' detention", China's state-run Xinhua news agency reports.
The various rows erupted as Japan marked its surrender at the end of World War II and South Korea its independence from Japanese colonial rule.
Early in the day, a group of South Korean swimmers landed on islands called Dokdo by South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, days after President Lee Myung-bak visited the islands - prompting Japan to recall its envoy.
The group of pro-China activists set sail on Sunday.
Japanese coastguard vessels surrounded the boat as it approached, but seven of the activists jumped overboard and swam to one of the islands, local media report.
Officials told the BBC that two activists returned to the boat, while the other five were arrested.
"The Okinawa prefectural police arrested five men for violation of the immigration control law on Uotsurijima island," a spokesman told AFP news agency.
Early on Wednesday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman warned Japan not to "endanger" the activists and said Beijing was ''paying close attention'' to the developments, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Tensions between China and Japan have been rumbling in recent months over the islands in the East China Sea.
Taiwan also claims the islands, which are controlled by Japan and form part of Okinawa prefecture.
Largely uninhabited, they are close to strategically important shipping lanes, offer rich fishing grounds and are thought to contain oil deposits.
In September 2010, relations between China and Japan plummeted after the arrest of a Chinese trawler captain near the islands. The captain was accused of ramming two Japanese patrol vessels in the area, but Japan eventually dropped the charges against him.
In April a fresh row ensued after Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said he would use public money to buy the islands from the current private owner.
Source: BBC News
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