Shimane Prefecture on Saturday held a ceremony to mark its second "Takeshima Day" promoting Japan's claim to a disputed group islets held by South Korea in the Sea of Japan.
Thursday was the official day, but the prefecture marked it Saturday to draw a bigger crowd.
Gov. Nobuyoshi Sumita urged the central government to make diplomatic efforts to press Japan's claim to the islets, called Dokdo in South Korea, in an address to some 450 people at the ceremony in a public hall in Matsue.
Several protesters from South Korea staged a rally nearby.
Sumita, looking back on the past year, said the ordinance designating the memorial day "made a big ripple and (public) awareness about the Takeshima issue was raised considerably."
He voiced hope that the central government will hold negotiations on the islets with South Korea in a "patient" manner.
Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda and three other Diet members from Shimane Prefecture joined the ceremony.
A group of people from South Korea, including a member of the Seoul city assembly, tried to distribute brochures on the territorial issue at the ceremony venue and staged a rally near the hall. They displayed a banner reading, "Abolish Takeshima Day Immediately."
The protest did not result in any trouble, authorities said.
Shimane designated Feb. 22 as Takeshima Day in March 2005, marking the centennial of it declaring the islets part of the prefecture in 1905.
South Korea's coast guard has been stationed on the largest of the islets since 1954.