South Korean civic groups staged rallies in Seoul on Friday to denounce Japan's claims to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo as a local government in Japan prepares to hold an annual event to bolster its territorial claims. The rallies came a day before "Takeshima Day," which Japan's Shimane prefectural government has observed on Feb. 22 since 2005 to lay claim to the rocky islets located in the East Sea. Dokdo is known as "Takeshima" in Japan.