The Adriatic Institute had a pleasure of welcoming prof. Gen Goto in March 2016 at the occasion of his visit to Zagreb as a speaker at the international conference "Energy Law – Maritime Law – Corporate Law – Commercial Law Intersection: Bridging the Gap" held at the Zagreb Law Faculty. Prof. Goto was introduced to the members of the Adriatic Institute by prof. Časlav Pejović from the Faculty of Law, University of Kyushu, who is a member of the Board of Editors of the Institute's Comparative Maritime Law Journal.   

Prof. Goto and prof. Pejović with prof. Degan and the members of the Adriatic Institute

Gen Goto is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Tokyo, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, in Japan (since 2010). His fields of research are corporate law, securities regulation, insurance law and maritime law. After graduating from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo in 2003 (LL.B.), Professor Goto had been Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo (2003-2006), and Lecturer (2006-2008) and Associate Professor (2008-2010) at the Gakushuin University in Tokyo. Also, he had assisted Japanese Government on the law reforms as a Researcher of the Japanese Ministry of Justice (2010-2013) (for the reform of the Companies Act), and as a Professional Member of the Financial System Council of the Japanese Financial Services Agency (2011-2013) (for the reform of the Insurance Business Act). From 2013 to 2015, he was a visiting scholar at the East Asian Legal Studies of Harvard Law School.

Prof. Goto, was this your first visit to Zagreb and Croatia? Could you tell us about your experiences and impressions?

Yes, it was my first visit to Croatia, and it was really a great experience. Prof. Pejović kindly guided me through the old town of Zagreb, which was magnificent. Also, Prof. Petrović and Prof. Mudrić of Zagreb Law Faculty took us out to Istria for the weekend, passing through the town of Motovun to the lovely coast of Rovinj. Everything was excellent, the scenery, food, wine, and people. No wonder that Croatia is now a very popular destination among the Japanese tourists, and I would love to come back again.

You and prof. Pejović of the Faculty of Law, Kyushu University participated as guest lecturers at the ENER-MAR-CORP-COMM Conference held at the Zagreb Law Faculty in March 2016. How did the conference come to be and what are your impressions of it? How would you describe your involvement therein?

The conference is actually a product of a coincidence. I have been attending Comite Maritime International (CMI) for a couple of years, where I met Prof. Mudrić when he presented his doctoral thesis in 2013. Next fall, I was appointed as a member of the Japanese delegation to the UNCITRAL Working Group I on micro, small and medium enterprises, as I also teach corporate law, and had a pleasure of meeting Prof. Petrović who was the delegate for Croatia. A few days after I mentioned to Prof. Petrović that I know his colleague, we started the possibility of academic cooperation.

I believe that the conference was a great success, and I was impressed by the depth of knowledge of the Croatian scholars. It was my pleasure to join as one of the panelists. Now I am organizing a follow-up seminar in Tokyo this November. 

 
How would you evaluate your cooperation with the Zagreb Law Faculty, what are your visions for the future of that cooperation and potentially of widening the cooperation towards other interested participants in Croatia, Japan and abroad?

It was my pleasure to collaborate with Professors Petrović and Mudrić, and other Croatian scholars. Although my faculty is not very quick on establishing formal relationships, I am looking forward to continue the academic cooperation. As Prof. Mudrić is already in contact with a South Korean professor to have a conference in Seoul just after the one in Tokyo, it would be nice if South Korea could join the cooperation.

Did you know about the Adriatic Institute and its Comparative Maritime Law journal, and would you have an interest in publishing your papers with us? Do you see a potential for cooperation with the Institute in the future?

I must admit that I did not know of your institute and journal until I heard of them from Prof. Pejović, but it would be a great opportunity to publish my papers on the journal, and to introduce it to the Japanese academic community.