GENEVA (Kyodo) Japan's record on racism has improved, but there is still room for progress, according to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

"We heard today much that is good and positive, but I think a deepened engagement would be welcomed and necessary," Patrick Thornberry, the member of the committee responsible for Japan's review, said Wednesday.

The review, the first for Japan since 2001, is required of signatory countries to the 1965 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which Japan ratified in December 1995.