This manuscript summarizes the public symposium of the 41st Annual Conference of IESJ, which was held on June 14, 2020 by ZOOM webinar with approximately 200 participants. Community contribution and cooperation became a crucial part of the university’s role, together with education and research. The development of cooperation with the local community is especially important for the host institution of this conference, because of its position as a public university in Akita, which has one of the lowest birthrates and fastest aging populations in Japan. Accordingly, various community cooperation activities are promoted both inside and outside of the classroom, but we, the planners of this symposium, often wonder whether these activities are truly contributing to the community or they are just an act of complacency of the university and researchers. The symposium, in response to these concerns, considered the role of university education and regional cooperation, using as an example the festival “Namahage” in Oga area, which was recognized in 2018 as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Since it has been difficult to continue this traditional event, some hamlets are trying to invite outsiders for the festival. However, there are various opinions about making “Namahage” as a tool of the tourism. Universities get engaged to solve these problems of communities. There is, of course, no one right answer of how to cooperate with the community. This symposium was intended to share experience of these various regional cooperation efforts, their challenges, and to discuss the ways of possible community cooperation.
