Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, State Department, USA

The leading human rights problems in Japan included the lack of due process for pretrial detainees; the exploitation of children; and societal discrimination against women in employment, children born out of wedlock, ethnic minority group members, persons with disabilities, and foreigners, including permanent residents.
Other human rights problems included prison and detention center conditions, prosecutorial misconduct, journalistic self-censorship*, domestic violence and sexual harassment against women, corruption, trafficking in persons, and the exploitation of foreign trainee workers.
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* Press clubs continued to encourage noncritical and similar news coverage by fostering close relationships among media personnel, officials, and politicians that in turn led journalists to practice self-censorship in exchange for access.