Her Death Shook Japan. It May Not Shift Refugee Rules.

TOKYO — The death of a 33-year-old Sri Lankan migrant, trapped in the bowels of Japan’s immigration system, triggered national calls to reform the bureaucracy that allowed her to waste away in a detention center without proper medical treatment.

A government report on Tuesday detailed the missteps that contributed to the tragedy, including insufficient medical resources, communication failures and a lack of proper oversight. But activists and politicians said the proposed changes didn’t go far enough to address the fundamental failures in an immigration system they describe as opaque and capricious.

The nearly 280-page document describes the series of events that led to the death in March of the 33-year-old Wishma Rathnayake, who had been detained for overstaying her visa. While the report said her death was the “result of illness,” it noted the possibility that her health was affected by several factors, “making it difficult to concretely determine the cause.”

The report outlined areas for reform, mainly centered on improving medical care by hiring more doctors and improving staff members’ training on assessing detainees’ physical and mental condition. The report did not assign blame to any individuals, nor did it address some of the more systemic issues with the immigration system.

Under current rules, detainees can be held indefinitely even when they have no criminal record and have applied for asylum status. Ms. Rathnayake had filed an application for permission to stay in Japan on humanitarian grounds over fears that she could be the target of violence by a former domestic partner if she returned to Sri Lanka. A request for provisional medical release while she waited was denied.

Japan rarely grants asylum requests. Despite being the world’s third-largest economy, the country approves less than 1 percent of applications, which last year amounted to 47 people.