Immigration officers are accused of regularly beating detained illegal aliens. Civic institutions are strong and freedoms of expression, assembly and association are generally respected in practice. Exclusive private press clubs provide journalists with access to top politicians and major ministries, and in return, journalists often practice self-censorship with sensitive stories. The Education Ministry routinely censors passages in history textbooks describing Japan's World War II atrocities. In 1997, the Supreme Court affirmed the government's right of censorship, but for the first time ruled that the Education Ministry had broken the law by censoring references to well-documented Japanese germ warfare experiments in China in the 1940s.
Women face significant employment discrimination and are frequently tracked into clerical careers.
A 1997 law banned workplace discrimination against women, and lifted restrictions on women's working hours, which unions say had been used to keep women out of management positions. However, sanctions for corporate violators are weak. In April, police announced a crackdown on gangsters who traffic Filipino and Thai women to Japan with the promise of regular jobs, and then force them to work as prostitutes. Trade unions are independent and active.