A U.N. rights expert who visited Japan last year noted "significant worrying signals" for the country's freedom of expression and opinion in a report released on Tuesday in Geneva.

The lack of debate on historical events, restrictions on information access justified on national security grounds and government pressure on media "require attention lest they undermine Japan's democratic foundations," noted David Kaye, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

The report, to be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council in June, is the result of the first research ever on freedom of expression in Japan conducted by a U.N. special rapporteur.

The Japanese government dismissed the report, saying it is based on hearsay and paints an inaccurate and insufficient picture of the situation in the country.

Kaye criticized the Japanese government's influence over school textbooks, saying members of the Textbook Authorization Research Council are ultimately appointed by the education ministry.

"Government influence over how textbooks treat the reality of the crimes committed during the Second World War undermines the public's right to know and its ability to grapple with and understand its past," Kaye said.

He noted in particular the gradual disappearance of the issue of "comfort women," who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War II, from textbooks since it was first introduced in 1997.

While all seven 1997 junior high school history textbooks took up the issue, no description was included in textbooks from 2012 to 2015 and only one mentioned it in 2016.

Kaye also aired concerns about the contentious secrecy law for the prevention of leaks of state secrets that took effect in 2014.

Under the law, civil servants or others who leak designated secrets could face up to 10 years in prison, and those who instigate leaks, including journalists, could be subject to prison terms of up to five years.

While welcoming government efforts to clarify the four specific categories under which information may be designated as secret -- defense, diplomacy, prevention of specified harmful activities and prevention of terrorist activities -- Kaye warned that "specific subcategories remain overly broad" and thus involve the risk of arbitrariness.

Regarding government pressure on media, Kaye raised concerns over Japan's broadcasting law and particularly its Article 4 that provides the basis for the government to suspend broadcasting licenses if TV stations are not "politically fair."

Kaye said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications "should not be in the position of determining what is fair."

"Government evaluation of such broadly stated norms would lead to deterrence of the media's freedom to serve as a watchdog, if it is not already creating such disincentives to reporting," he added.

Tokyo brushed aside this argument, saying the country's broadcasting law was enacted for the public welfare in accordance with the Constitution.

Kaye, professor of law at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law, specializes in international human rights law and international humanitarian law. He was appointed as rapporteur by the Human Rights Council in August 2014.

==Kyodo