Tokyo Rallies Urge End to Whaling Ban

TOKYO — Armed with loudspeakers and pamphlets, dozens of demonstrators took to the streets of Tokyo on Wednesday to plead for an endangered species--the whaler.

The rally, part of a high-profile publicity blitz, sought to drum up support before the International Whaling Commission comes to Japan next month to begin a review of its longstanding ban on commercial whaling.

Unlike their counterparts in most other nations, Japan's whalers already have the government, a powerful fishing industry and much of the public on their side.