Department of Japanese Law

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Director: Jun.-Prof. Dr. iur. Julius Weitzdörfer LL.B. B.A. Dipl.Jur. M.A. (Cantab)

Contact

FernUniversität in Hagen, Universitätsstraße 11, 58097 Hagen

Building 3, 1st floor, rooms E08 & E09

E-Mail: japanrecht / eastasianlaw

Telephone: +49 2331 987-4527

Telephone hours: Mon., Tue., & Fri.: 9am – 2pm & Wed. 11am – 4pm (DE, EN, JPN)

Dear Visitors,

due to vacation times the department is only partially staffed between 7 December 2024 and 6 January 2025. During this time, we will be unavailable by phone and responses to e-mails may be delayed. Regular availability will resume on 7 January 2025. Please consider that the Student Office (Studierendensekretariat) and the Office for Executive Education (Weiterbildungsstelle) will also only be partially staffed from 16 December, which may result in longer processing times for applications. Any application submitted by the deadline of 31 December (end of day) will qualify for the discount, even if the response is sent in the new year.

The Department of Japanese Law wishes you a happy Christmas.

Latest News 2024

Guest Lecture on Criminal Policy in Japan and DJJV Regulars' Table

From 10 to 11 November 2024, the Department's team met for its fourth closed meeting on the Leipzig campus. On 11 November Prof Dr Utsumi (Yokohama National University, currently University of Halle) delivered a guest lecture on the topic of "Criminal Policy in Japan". The German-Japanese Lawyers' Association (DJJV) subsequently hostet a get-together.

Julius Weitzdörfer in an Interview with Die Zeit (German Newspaper)

In late September 2024, at the biennial conference of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge, Jun-Prof Dr Weitzdörfer was interviewed by Die Zeit on the research field of existential risk.

Julius Weitzdörfer in an Interview with Deutschlandfunk (German Radio)

In late September 2024, at the biennial conference of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge, Jun-Prof Dr Weitzdörfer talked about the topic of existential risks with Deutschlandfunk.

Julius Weitzdörfer in Interviews with Allgemeine Zeitung (German Newspaper)

In the editions of 24 and 30 July 2024, Jun-Prof Dr Julius Weitzdörfer was interviewed about remand in custody in Japan; the background was an alleged case of rape involving a Japanese footballer in the Bundesliga.

Guest Lecture on the Future of Democracy and Human Rights in East Asia

On 11 July 2024, Hong Kong dissident Nathan Law, who has been nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize, met Jun-Prof Dr Weitzdörfer for a public discussion. This joint event was jointly organised by the Dimitris-Tsatsos-Institute for European Constitutional Studies and the Junior Professorship for East Asian Law.

Partnership Agreement with Dōshisha Law School Kyōto

In June 2024, a partnership agreement between the Faculty of Law of the FernUniversität and the Dōshisha Law School in Kyōto, initiated by Jun-Prof Dr Weitzdörfer, came into force. This enables reciprocal trips for research and study, the exchange of students and teaching materials as well as joint events.

The Department‘s Work on Taiwanese Law

During a research trip to Taiwan in May 2024, Jun-Prof Dr Julius Weitzdörfer and his assistant Leonard Kosub succeeded in recruiting a dozen Taiwanese experts as contributors of study material for the forthcoming executive education programme on Taiwanese law. They met various experts in thirteen appointments at five different universities and the German Institute Taipei.

Student Study Trip to Japanese Judicial Institutions

At the end of March 2024, Jun-Prof Dr Julius Weitzdörfer accompanied a study trip organised by Prof Dr Henning Rosenau (Halle). More than a dozen institutions were visited throughout Japan, including the National Diet, courts, the police and Japan's largest prison. Legal study trips from Hagen to Japan have already enjoyed great popularity in the past and are now offered again in identical form.

Third Closed Meeting of the Department of Japanese Law

From 1 to 3 March 2024, the team of the department met for its third closed meeting on the Berlin campus.

Obituary for Professor Dr Dr h.c. Masasuke Ishibe

The Department of Japanese Law mourns the loss of an outstanding Japanese legal scholar. An obituary was published in ZJapanR No. 57 (2024).

Guest Lecture on the Reforms of the Law of Obligations in Japan and Germany

The guest lecture "Reforms of the law of obligations in Japan and Germany: A comparative law retrospective" by Prof Dr Andreas Bergmann (FernUniversität in Hagen) and Prof Dr Keizō Yamamoto (Kyōto University) on 19 January 2024 was moderated by Dr Anna Katharina Suzuki-Klasen and Jun-Prof Dr Julius Weitzdörfer.

Relaunch of the Executive Education Programme "Foundations of Japanese Law"

Beginning 1 January 2024, the executive education programme "Foundations of Japanese Law" was relaunched with updated and augmented course material.

Prior Research Activities of the Department

Information on research activities of the department between 1996 and 2023 can be found here.

Development of the Department

The Department of Japanese Law can look back on a 35-year long history. As early as 1990 its predecessor existed at the chair of ​​​​Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Eisenhardt in form of a specialisation on study and research of Japanese law. Starting at the year 2000, there was a separate Institute for Japanese Law, which was integrated into the Institute for International Legal Relations as Department of Japanese Law in 2016 and headed by Prof. Dr. Hans-Peter Marutschke. geleitet wurde.Since September 2020, ​​​Jun.-Prof. Dr. iur. Julius Weitzdörfer LL.B. B.A. Dipl.Jur. M.A. (Cantab) has been working as Junior Professor of East Asian Law at the University of Hagen. Under his leadership, the department will be further developed and modernised.

​​​​​The tasks of the department are wide-ranging. One particularly important area is the further development and expansion of degree programmes in East Asian law. First and foremost is the ​​​​​„Fundamentals of Japanese Law“ course, which is organised as executive education programme in accordance with § 62 HG NRW. Furthermore, an elective module called ​Wahlmodul „Einführung in das Japanische Recht“ has been integrated into the undergraduate Master of Laws (LL.M.) programme at the University of Hagen, which is offered by the department every semester. . In addition to teaching and supervising theses, the department has its own ​​​​​research focus, which has gained recognition in Germany and Japan.

The department maintains contacts with the law faculties and law schools of all important state and private universities in Japan, Korea and Taiwan. This network has been made possible by the involvement of numerous well-known Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese professors in the degree programmes on East Asian law and in various research projects. Formal cooperation with the Dōshisha Law School were established in 2024. Similar collaborations are being prepared with the aim of enabling short study trips to Korea and Taiwan for participants in the respective executive education programme. In addition, students from these universities are to be offered a platform for the comparative study of German law and for the preparation of short study visits to Germany.

18.12.2024