The first professorship for Japanese Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin was awarded to Hans Eckardt (1905–1969) in 1958, ten years after the founding of the University. Initially he was appointed as Professor extroardinarius, before he was officially nominated as a Full Professor (Ordinarius) in 1964. Up to the end of the 1960s, the focus was set on a philological approach in Japanese studies. The Winter Semester 1968/69 saw the founding of the Ostasiatische Seminar (East Asian Seminar; OAS) within the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences, comprising the subject areas Chinese Studies and Japanese Studies. Katō Shūichi, a scholar of Japanese literature and culture, was appointed to the Japanese Studies chair in 1969, which he occupied until 1973. A second professorship was held from 1970 to 1975 by Roland Schneider (1939–2007). In addition, Johanna Fischer (1922–2004) was a professor at the University from 1971 to 1989, focusing on the History of Literature and Ideas.

Language teaching was carried out from the 1950s on by various external teachers, including the later Japanese Ambassador in Bonn, Ryōhei Murata, until 1971 saw the appointment of Detlev Foljanty, who served the institute until his retirement in 2003. Due to the increasing number of students, a second lector's position was set up, which was held by Hiroomi Fukuzawa until his retirement in 2008. From 1974 to 2005, Sumio Suga served as Librarian.

One of the most urgent demands of the politically active student body in the 1970s had been that more weight should be given to the social sciences in instruction. This was met by the appointment of Sung-jo Park in 1978, reinforcing the social science and economic orientation of the subject. Japan's status as a leading economic power led to increasing student interest in Japanese Studies, and the number of first-year students topped one hundred in the mid-eighties. During this time, a number of exchange programs with Japanese universities such as Tōkyō, Kyōto, Waseda, and Keiō were set up, giving students the chance to enjoy longer stays in Japan. Regular excursions took place, so that every year numerous students were able both to complete part of their education at Japanese universities, and to become familiar with a Japanese business in the course of an internship.

With the appointment of Irmela Hijiya-Kirschnereit to the chair for Literary and Cultural Studies in 1991, both cultural and social science fields of study in Japanese Studies were finally represented at the Freie Universität. The award of the prestigious Leibnitz Prize to her in 1992 also helped to expand the Cultural Studies section considerably. Since 1992, Yoriko Yamada-Bochynek has been on the teaching staff as a non-professorial tenured member (Akademische Rätin) specializing on linguistics and language didactics.

Following the retirement of Sung-jo Park in 2003, Verena Blechinger-Talcott was named as his successor and now represents the areas of Politics and Economics of Japan.