• 1960 born in Bludenz, Austria
• 1979-83 studies of philosophy and theology at the University of Vienna
• from 1984 Japanese studies (major) and studies in comparative religion.
• 1988 Mag.phil. (M.A.) with a thesis on:
  Yakuza. Self-image, subculture and ideology.
  University of Vienna

• 1988-90 Lecturer for the German language in Kansai (Kônan University/Kôbe, Osaka University of Economics Osaka, Goethe Institut Osaka); field work on "illegal" migrant workers, Yakuza and day labourers
• 1991/92 Assistant at the Institute for Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna.
  • Lecturer for extra-European history (labour migration) at the University of Vienna
  • Guest lecturer at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg/Germany
  • Doctoral programs on Japanese studies and (criminal) sociology
• Dr. phil. (PhD) with a thesis on:
  The delinquency of foreigners in Japan
  as an argument in the discussion concerning foreign 'illegal' migrant workers
• 1998 Guest lecturer at the University of Innsbruck,
  Institute for Comparative Literature

Presently Wolfgang Herbert works as "foreign professor" (gaikokujin kyôshi) at the University of Tokushima for sociology, comparative cultural studies and German as foreign language and as lecturer for Human Sciences at the St. Thomas University in Osaka.

Special fields: comparative sociology, social deviance, (Zen) Buddhism

At the moment Wolfgang is working on his new book:
Mein Indien