Professor of Cultural Economic History Prof. Dr. Harald Fuess

Harald Fuess is Professor for Cultural Economic History at the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies since summer 2009. Before taking up his post in Heidelberg, he taught modern Japanese history at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom and Sophia University in Japan. Other employers include the Boston Consulting Group in Frankfurt and the German National Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo. At Oxford University, the University of Duisburg-Essen, Columbia University, and the University of Tokyo he held visiting appointments.
After a childhood in France and Germany, he received his academic training at Princeton University (B.A.) and Harvard University (M.A., Ph.D). Harald Fuess lived in Japan for 15 years and has been elected president of the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS) for the 2008-2011 term and served on the executive council of EAJS since 2000. His numerous publications cover aspects of the history of Japan, gender, consumption, cultural-economic relations, and Eurasian cultural flows.

He's the study abroad coordinator for the ERASMUS/ERASMUS+ and bilateral (exchange) co-operations within Transcultural and Asian Studies. In case of questions regarding the study abroad options please contact studentexchange@hcts.uni-heidelberg.de .

2009– Professor of Cultural Economic History, Heidelberg University. Speaker Cluster Research Area C “Health and Environment” 2009-2012, Director of Cluster Graduate School Transcultural Studies 2012-2017, University Scientific Coordinator of the Hexagon Alliance 2010-now, Erasmus Coordinator Asian Studies 2010–now, Executive Board Member Heidelberger Graduiertenschule für Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften (HGGS) 2012–now

2007–2009 Director at the White Rose Centre of East Asian Studies and permanent Fellow of the National Institute of Japanese Studies, Sheffield University

2001–2007 Associate Professor (with Tenure) of Modern Japanese History, Sophia University

2000–2001 Consultant, Boston Consulting Group Frankfurt

1995–2000 Research Fellow/Senior Research Fellow, German Institute of Japanese Studies Tokyo

• Hellyer, R.I. & Fuess, H. hrsg., 2020. The Meiji restoration: Japan as a global nation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Fuess, H., 2020. „Kommt auf keinen Fall nach Kyōto“: von Touristenschwemme zu Touristenmangel in Japan, 2011-2020. S.250–282.
• Fuess, H., 2018. Das Ringen um staatliche Souveränität und das Wirtschaftsrecht des Stärkeren: Europa und der Markenschutz in Japan und Ostasien, 1884–1923. In M. Bälz, hrsg. Recht als Verwirklichung individueller Ansprüche in Japan. Köln: Carl Heymanns Verlag, S. 23–44. 
• Fuess, H., 2018. Unequal treaties, consular jurisdiction, and treaty port society. In S. Saaler & C. W. A. Szpilman, hrsg. Routledge handbook of modern Japanese history. London ; New York: Routledge, S. 47–61.
• Fuess, H., 2017. Does taste matter in history?: Making sense of the history of the senses. In C. Craig, E. Fongaro, & A. Ozaki, hrsg. How to learn?. Milan: Mimesis International, S. 199–215.
• Fuess, H., 2016. E. Meyer & Co. at the eastern frontiers of capitalism: the leading Western merchant house in Korea, 1884 to 1914. Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte, 61(1), S.3–30.
• Fuess, H., 2014. Kaku, Sechiyama, Patriarchy in East Asia - [Rezension]. Journal of family history, 39(4), S.447–449.
• Fuess, H., 2014. Adultery and gender equality: 1868 - 1945. In S. L. Burns, hrsg. Gender and law in the Japanese imperium. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, S. 109–135.

Courses in the winter semester 2024/25

• Asian Food History and Culture (SEG Intro)

• Global Economic History Research Colloquium
• Introduction to Transcultural Studies
• MATS Colloquium
• Meiji Restoration

Courses in the summer semester 2024

• East Asian Economy
• Japanese Readings (on Kyoto)
• MATS Colloquium
• US Occupation of Japan 

Winter term 2024/25

Thursdays between 2pm-3pm. (A list is available outside the office to reserve an appointment beforehand. First come, first served. Please contact Tanja Haufer in case you need an appointment outside the regular office hours.)