Dr. Steffen Heinrich
Research Associate
Japan Center
Office address:
Oettingenstraße 67
Room 141
D-80538 Munich
Office hours:
By appointment
Postal address:
Oettingenstraße 67
D-80538 Munich
Research interests
My research interests lie in the political economy of Japan in international comparison. I am currently particularly concerned with the effects of demographic ageing and prolonged economic stagnation on social security systems and reforms.
Curriculum Vitae
- Year
- Academic appointments and education
- Since 2026
- Research associate and lecturer, Japan Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich
- 2019 - 2026
- Visiting Professor for politics and political economy of Japan, Freie Universität Berlin
- 2014 - 2019
- Senior Researcher (from 2017 als Head of Social Science Division), German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ), Tokyo
- 2012 - 2014
- Post-doctoral researcher in DFG-funded project “Cross-border temporary staffing. Market-making and transnational regulation in inter-regional comparison”, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg
- 2010 - 2012
- Research associate and lecturer, Institute of East Asian Studies (INEAST), Universität Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg
- 2013
- Doctorate in comparative politics, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
- 2013
- Guest researcher, Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin
- 2008 - 2010
- Research associate and lecturer, Institute of Political Science, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
- 2008
- Guest researcher, Institute of Social Sciences (shaken), University of Tokyo
- 2006
- MA in Political Science, Economics and Japanese Studies, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich
Publications, Public outreach and media work
Zakowski, Karol, Steffen Heinrich and Patrick Köllner (2024): Japan report. Sustainable Governance Indicators 2024. Gühtersloh: Bertelsmann Foundation. https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/de/publikationen/publikation/did/japan-report-sgi-2024
Heinrich, Steffen (2023): Der japanische Sozialstaat unter dem Druck der Demographie: Dauerkrise oder Zukunftslabor? [The Japanese welfare state under demographic pressure: A cautionary tale or a laboratory of the future?], in: Japan Jahrbuch 2024, Munich: Iudicium, 83-105.
Heinrich, Steffen (2022): Fallende Kosten staatlicher Intervention: Abes Kehrtwenden in der Arbeitsmarktpolitik [Falling costs of state interventions: Abe’s u-turn in labour market reform], in: Japan Jahrbuch 2023, Munich: Iudicium, 73-82.
Heinrich, Steffen on Lechevalier, Sebastien and David Chiavacci (2017, eds): Japanese political economy revisited: Abenomics and institutional change, London: Routledge. Social Science Japan Journal, 25 (1), Winter 2022, 185–188. [book review]
Heinrich, Steffen and Jun Imai (2020): Work and employment: Inside, outside and beyond the lifetime employment model, in: Takeda, Hiroko and Mark Williams (eds): Routledge handbook of contemporary Japan, London: Routledge, 80-101.
Heinrich, Steffen (2020): Herculean efforts: What the construction of the Olympic Stadium reveals about working conditions in Japan, in: Holthus, Barbara; Isaac Gagné, Wolfram Manzenreiter and Franz Waldenberger (eds): Japan through the lens of the Tokyo Olympics, Routledge: 33-38. Open access: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003033905
Heinrich, Steffen; Shire, Karen A. and Hannelore Mottweiler (2020): Fighting (for) the margins: Trade union responses to the emergence of cross-border temporary agency work in the European Union, in: Journal of Industrial Relations 62 (2). https://doi.org/10.1177/0022185619900649
Heinrich, Steffen (2019): The politics of balancing equality and flexibility. A comparison of recent equal pay reforms in Germany and Japan, in: Uta Meier-Gräwe, Miyoko Motozawa and Annette Schad-Seifert (eds): Family life in Japan and Germany. Challenges for a gender sensitive family policy. Wiesbaden: Springer, 267-294.
Shire, Karen, Steffen Heinrich, Jun Imai, Hannelore Mottweiler, Markus Tünte, and Chih-Chieh Wang (2018): Private Labour Market Intermediaries in Cross-Border Labour Markets in Europe and Asia: International Norms, Regional Actors and Patterns of Cross-Border Labour Mobility. In: Quack, Sigrid, Schulz-Schaeffer, Ingo, Shire, Karen, and Anja Weiß (eds). Transnationalisierung der Arbeit, Wiesbaden: Springer, 155-183.
Heinrich, Steffen (2018): ドイツ労働市場In: 日本労働研究雑誌60 (4). pp. 29-37.
Heinrich, Steffen (2017): (Keine) Angst vorm Wähler: Abes arbeitsmarktpolitische Strukturreformen in Zeiten wachsender Ungleichheit, in: Heinrich, S. and Vogt, G. (eds): Japan in der Ära Abe. Eine politikwissenschaftliche Analyse, München: Iudicium. 118-138.
Heinrich, Steffen and Gabriele Vogt (2017): Abes Politik und Politik unter Abe: Eine Einführung, in: Heinrich, S. and Vogt, G. (eds): Japan in der Ära Abe. Eine politikwissenschaftliche Analyse, München: Iudicium. 11-27.
Heinrich, Steffen and Gabriele Vogt (2017): Abes Politik und Politik unter Abe: Eine Zwischenbilanz, in: Heinrich, S. and Vogt, G. (eds): Japan in der Ära Abe. Eine politikwissenschaftliche Analyse, München: Iudicium. 271-284.
Heinrich, Steffen (2016): Does employment dualisation lead to political polarisation? Assessing the impact of labour market inequalities on political discourse in Japan, in: Chiavacchi, David; Hommerich, Carola (Hg.) Social inequality in post-growth Japan. Transformation during economic and demographic stagnation. London: Routledge. 73-87.
Heinrich, Steffen and Tobias Söldner (2016, eds): Contemporary Japan, 28 (2).
Apitzsch, Birgit, Karen Shire, Steffen Heinrich, Hannelore Mottweiler und Markus Tünte (2015): Flexibiliät und Beschäftigungswandel, Weinheim und Basel: Beltz Juventa.
Heinrich, Steffen (2010): Patterns of dualisation. Coordinated capitalism and the politics of flexible labour markets in Germany and Japan 1990-2010, Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg.
Heinrich, Steffen (2010): Facing the ‚dark side‘ of deregulation? The politics of two-tier labour markets in Germany and Japan after the global financial crisis, in: Greener, I./ Holden, C./Kilkey, M. (eds): Social Policy Review 22. Analysis and debate in social policy, 2010, Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 151-176.
Heinrich, Steffen (2007): Die Wahlreform in Japan von 1994 und der Wandel des Parteienwettbewerbs – Eine vergleichende Studie zur Relevanz institutioneller Einflüsse. Münster: LIT-Verlag.
Interview for Frankfurter Runschau: „Japan altert schneller als Deutschland – trotzdem fürchtet niemand den Renten-Kollaps [Japan is ageing faster than Germany – but few worry about pensions‘ sustainability“, by Andreas Apetz, 27 June 2026.
Interview for Asahi Shimbun Digital:「総選挙の注目点は？高齢化や移民、安保…課題重なるドイツ識者に聞く」, by Teranishi Kazuo, 6 February 2026.
Speaker at the public forum on “Demographics – the silent revolution” organised by Bundesverband deutscher Banken e.V. (Association of German Banks), Berlin, 28 January 2026.
Interview for Berliner Zeitung: „Japan ist uns ein Stückchen voraus [When it comes to the implications of ageing Japan is a bit ahead of us]“, by Fritz Schumann, 26 November 2025.
Invited guest in the economics podcast „In der Wirtschaft. Der Podcast über die Vielfalt in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften“, Folge 79, „Steffen Heinrich…und die Wirtschaft Japans“. 18 November 2025. https://inderwirtschaft.de/2025/11/18/folge-79-steffen-heinrich/
Live-Interview in „Update Wirtschaft“ about the implications of demographic ageing for the Japanese labour market, Tagesschau24 [news channel], 5 May 2023.