The U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights, released Friday, said serious problems persist in how Japan deals with refugees and asylum seekers and that domestic abuse and sexual harassment of women remain rife.
In a wide-ranging review of freedoms as assessed by Washington, the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014 examines privacy, respect for civil liberties, and political and worker rights in that year or just prior to it.
"Leading human rights problems included lack of due process for pretrial detainees, poor prison and detention center conditions, and the (sexual) exploitation of children," the report said of Japan.