Dimitri Vanoverbeke is a professor at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium and Director of the Department of East Asian and Arabic Studies. He lectures in Japanese Studies (law, politics and society) and also lectures in the Europe-Asia: Interactions and Comparisons module of the Master of Arts in European Studies at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (East Asian Politics). His current research interests relate to law and society and to the political dynamics in Japan and in Southeast Asia. Aside from publishing on the past and present of the legal system in Japan, he also publishes on the relationship between Japan and the EU.