Department of Japanese Law

Deutsch

Director: Jun-Prof Dr Julius Weitzdörfer LLB BA DiplJur MA (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)

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 intensive workshop at the University of Hagen Campus Centre in Leipzig. 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 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 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 Weitzdörfer was interviewed about remand in custody in Japan; the background was an alleged case of rape involving a Japanese football player 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 for the Nobel Peace Prize several times, met Jun-Prof Weitzdörfer for a public discussion. This event was jointly organised by the Dimitris-Tsatsos-Institute for European Constitutional Studies and the Junior Professorship of 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 Weitzdörfer, came into effect. This agreement allows for reciprocal research and study trips, 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 Weitzdörfer and Leonard Kosub from the Department's team succeeded in recruiting a dozen Taiwanese experts as contributors to study material for the forthcoming executive education programme on Taiwanese law. They met various experts in thirteen appointments at five different universities and at the German Institute Taipei.

Student Study Trip to Japanese Judicial Institutions

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

Third Intensive Workshop of the Department of Japanese Law

From 1 to 3 March 2024, the team of the Department met for its third intensive workshop on the Berlin campus.

Obituary for Professor Dr Dr hc 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 Andreas Bergmann (FernUniversität in Hagen) and Prof Keizō Yamamoto (Kyōto University) on 19 January 2024 was moderated by Dr Anna Katharina Suzuki-Klasen and Jun-Prof 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 hc 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. Since September 2020, ​​​Jun-Prof Dr Julius Weitzdörfer LLB BA Dipl Jur MA (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 ​​​​​„Foundations of Japanese Law“ course, which is organised as an executive education programme in accordance with § 62 HG NRW. Furthermore, an elective module called ​"Introduction to Japanese Law" has been integrated into the undergraduate Master of Laws (LLM) 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 was 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.

20.01.2025