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The Joint Research Group and its activities were officially initiated after an inaugural meeting held on May 29, 2015, in Hong Kong. Senior members of both institutions attended the meeting including Prof. Hans van Ess (President, Max Weber Stiftung), Dr. Harald Rosenbach (Chief Executive Director, Max Weber Stiftung), Prof. Franz Waldenberger (Director, German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo), Mr. Joachim Röhr (Administrative Director, German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo), as well as Prof. Rick Wong (Vice-President Research &#38; Development of the HKBU) and Prof. Adrian J. Bailey (Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, HKBU). They extended their appreciation and wish for enhancing exchange and development of academic knowledge across Europe and Asia, humanities and social sciences through this collaboration effort.