Sustainability of Community Activities By Students at Universities : A Comparative Study of the Watarai Japanese Tea Project and the Moray Eel's Local Production for Local Consumption Project

This paper examines the factors that contribute to the sustainability of community activities by students at universities. Since 1999, community activities at Japanese universities have become more active than ever before, due to significant government support. Additionally, many researchers such as Mizuno (2013) and Fujii (2015), have conducted studies on community activities at universities.

This paper presents an analysis of two case studies of projects in Mie Prefecture, Japan : the Watarai Japanese Tea Project and the Moray Eel's Local Production for Local Consumption Project. These projects are collaborative efforts with local municipalities and companies in the region reflecting a commitment to regional partnerships. The Watarai Japanese Tea Project commenced in 2016 , while the Moray Eel's Local Production for Local Consumption Project was initiated in 2022. The objective is to promote local specialty products, such as Japanese tea and moray eel, through product planning, development, sales, and PR, to revitalize the community through these activities, and to provide practical learning for the participating students. Furthermore, Mie Prefecture, especially the Ise-Shima area, is currently experiencing a notable problem of an aging society with a low birth rate, and is plagued by a lack of local actors. It is expected that these projects will assist in addressing this issue.

An analysis of these projects indicates that there are several factors that contribute to the sustainability of community activities by university students : student factors, government and corporate factors, community factors, faculty factors, project factors, and so on.