How does public opinion influence national asylum policymaking? This article analyses the change in Japan's asylum policy towards Kurdish asylum seekers from Turkey in the mid‐2000s. Although the conservative government of Japan has maintained a strict asylum policy, the government exceptionally applied an ad hoc and more generous policy to Kurdish asylum seekers. After the deportation of two Kurdish asylum seekers to Turkey was politicised in the mid‐2000s, Japan's stringent asylum policy was continuously attacked by criticisms, expressions of doubt, and requests for reform from the public, media, humanitarian activists, and opposition parties. As a result of mounting public criticism, the government suspended the deportation of Kurdish asylum seekers and expanded the opportunities for them to be pardoned from deportation. In Japan and many other democracies, asylum policymaking is complex, but the study concludes that public opinions can be an important factor in its evolution. Certainly, it has significantly influenced the change in Japan's policy towards Kurdish asylum seekers in the mid‐2000s.

中文翻译：

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当舆论推动国家庇护政策制定时：日本的库尔德寻求庇护者案

舆论如何影响国家庇护政策制定？本文分析了2000年代中期日本对来自土耳其的库尔德寻求庇护者的庇护政策的变化。尽管日本保守党政府一直实行严格的庇护政策，但政府对库尔德寻求庇护者采取了特殊的，更慷慨的临时政策。在2000年代中期将两名库尔德寻求庇护者驱逐到土耳其之后，日本的严格庇护政策不断受到批评，质疑和要求公众，媒体，人道主义活动家和反对派进行改革的攻击。由于越来越多的公众批评，政府暂停了将库尔德寻求庇护者驱逐出境，并扩大了将他们从驱逐中赦免的机会。在日本和其他许多民主国家，庇护政策的制定很复杂，但研究得出的结论是，舆论可能是其演变的重要因素。当然，它极大地影响了2000年代中期日本对库尔德寻求庇护者的政策变化。