„Culture, Legal Culture, or …? What explains the peculiarities of Japanese law?“
Prof. Dr. Moritz Bälz, LL.M. (Harvard)
Goethe – University of Frankfurt am Main
Tuesday, 7 October 2025, 1:15-2:45 PM
Forum Asia Pacific, HS 888, Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse 18, 3rd Floor, Salzburg
Japanese culture—whether anime or architecture, karaoke or karate, manga or matcha—continues to enjoy unbroken popularity in Europe. It is often Japan’s uniqueness that fascinates us, even if this carries the risk of distorting our image of Japan. Cultural factors are also frequently emphasized when explaining the distinctive features of Japanese law. Despite diverse Western influences, not least from continental Europe, on modern Japanese law, it has remained fundamentally different in important respects, and these differences are attributed to traditional patterns of behavior and specifically Japanese values, in short, to the unique Japanese culture. What does such an explanatory approach achieve? Are we not running the risk of exoticizing Japan? Is Japanese law really particularly culturally influenced? What can “culture” even mean in this context? Does the concept of legal culture enable a deeper understanding? The lecture will explore these questions and illustrate them with examples from very different areas of Japanese law.
Prof. Dr. Moritz Bälz, LL.M. (Harvard), has been Professor of Japanese Law and its Cultural Foundations at Goethe University Frankfurt since 2008. His research focuses on the comparative analysis of Japanese commercial law, dispute resolution and judicial reform in Japan, and general issues of comparative law with Japan.
“A Journey Through Time: the Defining Historical, Linguistic, Philosophical, Legal, and Economic Influences of Chinese Thought”
Mag. Andreas WERNER
(Beijing)
First Part: Tuesday, October 14, 2025, 1:15-5:15 p.m.
Second Part: Wednesday, October 15, 2025, 1:15-3:15 p.m.
Faculty of Law and Economics,Churfürststraße 1, 2nd floor, HS 213 (CHU1OG2.291), Salzburg
Part One: Tuesday, October 14, 2025, 1:15–5:15 p.m.From the Zhou Dynasty to 1949: In the first part, historical events and figures will be discussed and placed in a European context. The influence of language on thinking is evident, as is that of philosophy and religion, i.e., Confucius, Laozi, and Buddhism. The legal system reflects this. The economic organization of ancient China is more influential than it seems.
Part Two: Tuesday, October 15, 2025, 1:15–3:15 p.m.The second part presents the transition from a capitalist China to a planned economy. This is followed by the Cultural Revolution and Deng Xiaoping’s policy of opening up and the renewed transition to a new system. The last 25 years to the present: an attempt to explain the background to China’s rise to economic world power.
Andreas Werner was born in Vienna in 1958. After finishing school, he studied Chinese Studies and Law at the University of Vienna. He developed a deep interest in China at an early age and spent a study visit at the Language Institute in Beijing from 1982 to 1984 to deepen his language skills and cultural insights. He began his professional career at the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber, where he worked from 1993 to 1995. He then moved to Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB), which later became Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI). There he held various management positions from 1994 to 2014. From 2000, he was General Manager of the Beijing branch before taking on the role of CEO Greater China in 2005. From 2014 to 2015, Andreas Werner was CEO of Winsway, a publicly traded company in Hong Kong listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. After this successful period, he turned his attention to new challenges and in 2016 became a partner in the recycling company SBE HK, which specializes in sustainable environmental technologies. In 2019, Werner acquired CDG Pacific in Subic, Philippines, a company that focuses on recycling copper cables and electronic waste. Since then, he has been working in Subic, where he continues to be deeply committed to the circular economy and environmental technology.
“Glass Technology in 17th-18th Century China: Between Court, Society, and the Impact of European Missionaries”
Dr. CAO Jin
University of Salzburg
Tuesday, 18 November 2025,1:15-2:45 p.m.
Forum Asia Pacific, HS 888, Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse 18, 3rd Floor, Salzburg
This presentation explores the development of glass technology in 17th and 18th century China as a field shaped by artisanal expertise, imperial patronage, and cross-cultural exchange. Focusing on Boshan workshops and the Qing imperial glassworks, in examines how Chinese craftsmen and Jesuit Missionaries collaborated in the refinement of materials, furnaces, and colors. By situating these interactions between court and society, the talk highlights how glassmaking became a site where global science and local craft intersected, transforming both technology and meaning.
“Controversial Living Environments in a Risk and Disaster Context:The Example of Nepal”
PD Dr. Akad. ORätin Alexandra Titz
Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg
Tuesday, 9 December 2025, 1:15-2:45 p.m.
Forum Asia Pacific, HS 888, Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse 18, 3rd Floor, Salzburg
For many, Nepal is synonymous with imposing mountain worlds and cultural diversity. Despite this “wealth” and progress in the fight against poverty, the South Asian country is still one of the poorest countries in the world. The survival of the population is closely linked to the use of natural resources and is threatened by environmental changes and extreme natural events. The culturally diverse society is highly fragmented, which manifests itself in massive socio-economic inequalities and the systematic exclusion of certain groups from political, economic and social processes. As a result, parts of the population are unable to mobilize potential survival and risk reduction strategies or even lack the ability to avert disasters altogether.
On April 25, 2015, the Himalayan state of Nepal was shaken by a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake, which was followed by a severe 7.3-magnitude quake on May 12. According to official figures, more than 8,800 people were killed and 22,300 injured; 882,000 houses were destroyed, and 2.8 million people were left homeless and displaced. Around 17,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) fled from the worst-affected rural regions to the densely populated Kathmandu Valley – and some of them are still living there in precarious conditions today. While the drivers of displacement in the event of disaster are relatively well understood, uncertainties remain regarding the long-term displacement and immobility of IDPs, the (apparent) inability of some to leave places of displacement, and the reasons for others to stay.
Taking a cultural geography perspective on the interplay of social inequality and lack of coping capacities, this presentation aims to highlight the complexity of protracted and multiple disaster displacement and to provide a better understanding of the obstacles to achieving durable solutions.
“Collective Curating in Global Contexts: Europe and Asia-Pacific”
Prof. Nicole Haitzinger and Dr. Timothy Nouzak
University of Salzburg
Tuesday, 20 January 2026, 1:15-2:45 p.m.
Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse 18, 3rd Floor, HS 888, Salzburg
In the current geopolitical context of polarization, collective curating takes on specific relevance in the circulation of knowledge and practices between Europe and Asia-Pacific. In this co-presentation, we would like to discuss its sociocultural function beyond an entertainment culture based on production logic or monocultural aesthetic paradigms. According to our thesis, improvisation-based scores, dance- and performance-related practices, and playful, grassroots democratic decision-making processes have the potential to decentralize curatorial authority—for example, when groups calibrate their perceptions through physical tuning-in before decision-making processes. Using examples from dance and performance, we discuss how feedback cultures, tacit knowledge, and their situated curation can be collectively experienced as a trans-local practice.
“Peace-building through Music: Thoughts on a Cross-cultural Religious Literacy Project in Ambon”
Prof. Sarah Weiss
University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
Tuesday, 20 January 2026,1:15-2:45 p.m.
Forum Asia Pacific, Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse 18, 3rd Floor, HS 888, Salzburg
The Leimana Institute in Jakarta has a long-standing cross-cultural religious literacy project in Indonesia. They have active projects in Aceh, in Sulawesi, and an in Ambon. One of their most effect approaches is in training teachers of primary and second school children to be aware of the ways in which they can generate interest in tolerance and while creating openness and awareness not only in their students, but also the parents of their students and future communities. The Austrian Foreign ministry has an Intercultural and Interreligious taskforce focused on Wissenschaftliche Zusammenarbeit; Dialog der Kulturen und Religionen. Leimana and the Austrian Foreign ministry decided to run a pilot project in Ambon Indonesia. Reporting on ethnographic research with colleagues from the project and also activism work helping to prepare a musical presentation performed by Ambonese school teachers in Jakarta in November 2025, this presentation also explores the ethics and aesthetics of activist consultation and research in postcolonial contexts
