Tokyo : Japan held an annual rally on Saturday marking Tokyo's claim to a set of tiny islands controlled by South Korea, further fuelling a long-standing territorial row between the two neighbours.
Some 500 people gathered at the event in Shimane prefecture in western Japan, including a high-ranking Japanese government official as well as local and national politicians, organisers said.
Tokyo refers to the islands in the Sea of Japan (known as East Sea in South Korea) as Takeshima, while they are known as Dokdo in South Korea. The Shimane prefectural government claims that the islands are under its jurisdiction.
"Takeshima is an integral part of our country," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in Tokyo on Friday, adding that Kameoka's attendance at the rally was aimed at stressing the Japanese stance on the issue.
In Seoul, more than 200 South Koreans from two different groups took turns in staging protests outside the Japanese embassy, shouting slogans and waving banners.
They also demanded Japan apologise for its past wrongs and that its leaders stop visiting a shrine for Japanese war dead, including top war criminals.
Relations between the two countries have regularly been strained by the territorial dispute and other issues arising from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.
Tokyo is embroiled in separate territorial spats with China and Russia.
Some 500 people gathered at the event in Shimane prefecture in western Japan, including a high-ranking Japanese government official as well as local and national politicians, organisers said.
Tokyo refers to the islands in the Sea of Japan (known as East Sea in South Korea) as Takeshima, while they are known as Dokdo in South Korea. The Shimane prefectural government claims that the islands are under its jurisdiction.
"Takeshima is an integral part of our country," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in Tokyo on Friday, adding that Kameoka's attendance at the rally was aimed at stressing the Japanese stance on the issue.
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In Seoul, more than 200 South Koreans from two different groups took turns in staging protests outside the Japanese embassy, shouting slogans and waving banners.
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They also demanded Japan apologise for its past wrongs and that its leaders stop visiting a shrine for Japanese war dead, including top war criminals.
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Relations between the two countries have regularly been strained by the territorial dispute and other issues arising from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.
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Tokyo is embroiled in separate territorial spats with China and Russia.
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