Seems like a problem with `/search` when `max` is not set to today, and `tagged` is given:

https://api.stackexchange.com/2.1/search?order=desc&max=1358294400&sort=activity&tagged=java&site=stackoverflow

The result appears to be empty.

It can be verified through the SO search facility itself that (as expected) there are many, many questions tagged `java` posted at least one day ago.