You have created a two dimensional (2 X 1) array. In
Java, these are one dimensional arrays of one dimensional arrays.
Method java.util.Arrays.equals() is comparing the two rows,
{"a"} == {"a"} // false
{"b"} == {"b"} // false
because they are different array objects and they are being compared with the Object.equals() method.
If you want to compare the underlying elements of a multidimensional array, use java.util.Arrays.deepEquals() in Java 5. It will do what you want.