Ioan Trifu

Dr. Ioan Trifu is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Near Eastern and East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU). He holds affiliations with the Elite Master Program “Standards of Decision-Making Across Cultures” and has served as a Part-time Lecturer at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Paris) and the University of Toulouse. His career includes postdoctoral research fellowships at institutions such as the University of Tokyo, Tohoku University, and Seijo University, focusing on Japanese law, politics, and cultural studies.

Education:

• Doctorate in Law (2013), Tohoku University
• Ph.D. in Political Science (2013), Lumière Lyon 2 University
• Master’s in Political Science (2006), Lyon Institute of Political Studies
• Bachelor’s in History (2003), Lumière Lyon 2 University

Research Interests: Dr. Trifu specializes in the historical sociology of the state, political leadership, decision-making processes, and memory/heritage politics in Japan. He also examines disaster policies, non-human politics, and comparative politics between Japan and France. His work bridges institutional analysis with emotional and symbolic dimensions of governance.

Teaching: He teaches courses on Japanese politics, disaster governance, translation, and methodology at FAU, INALCO, and the University of Toulouse. Recent modules include “Decision-Making in Democratic Politics” and “Governing the Past in East Asia.”

Research Trends: His publications analyze Japan’s engagement with international norms, post-war cultural policy reforms, and climate change discourse. Recent work explores disaster policy as a lens for understanding Japanese governance structures and peripheral-center dynamics.