Summary• The principles underlying the formation of leaf veins have long intrigued developmental biologists. In leaves, networks of vascular precursor procambial cells emerge from seemingly homogeneous subepidermal tissue through the selection of anatomically inconspicuous preprocambial cells. Understanding dynamics of procambium formation has been hampered by the difficulty of observing the process in vivo .• Here we present a live-imaging technique that allows visual access to complex events occurring in developing leaves. We combined this method with stage-specific fluorescent markers in Arabidopsis ( Arabidopsis thaliana ) to visualize preprocambial strand formation and procambium differentiation during the undisturbed course of development and upon defined perturbations of vein ontogeny.• Under all experimental conditions, we observed extension, termination and fusion of preprocambial strands and simultaneous initiation of procambium differentiation along entire individual veins.• Our findings strongly suggest that progressiveness of preprocambial strand formation and simultaneity of procambium differentiation represent inherent properties of the mechanism underlying vein formation.

Light provides crucial positional information in plant development, and the morphogenetic processes that are orchestrated by light signals are triggered by changes of gene expression in response to variations in light parameters. Control of expression of members of the RbcS and Lhc families of photosynthesis-associated nuclear genes by light cues is a paradigm for lightregulated gene transcription, but high-resolution expression profiles for these gene families are lacking. In this study, we have investigated expression patterns of members of the RbcS and Lhc gene families in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) at the cellular level during undisturbed development and upon controlled interference of the light environment. Members of the RbcS and Lhc gene families are expressed in specialized territories, including root tip, leaf adaxial, abaxial, and epidermal domains, and with distinct chronologies, identifying successive stages of leaf mesophyll ontogeny. Defined spatial and temporal overlap of gene expression fields suggest that the light-harvesting and photosynthetic apparatus may have a different polypeptide composition in different cells and that such composition could change over time even within the same cell.

This paper describes the Genki Tosaben Musical (Genki), a unique community theatre project in Kochi prefecture in Japan. Since 1996, foreigners living in Kochi have been creating original musical theatre productions in Tosaben, the local Japanese dialect, and touring the prefecture to raise money for charity and promote cross-cultural exchange. In this study, qualitative survey responses from 35 former participants in Genki were analyzed. Based on these survey responses, this paper explores the motivations of the participants in this production, how the experience impacted language learning and community integration, as well as the positive and negative aspects of partaking in this event.

The Genki Tosaben Musical (Genki), an annual theatre production started in 1996, has foreigners in Kochi Prefecture staging an original musical in Tosaben, the local Japanese dialect. Once the show is ready, the troupe tours the prefecture to promote grassroots cultural exchange. In 2020, the musical was canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions. In response, the organizers transformed the musical theatre production into an online video created using Zoom and remote actors. This paper discusses qualitative data gathered from interviews with the key players (director/writer, producer, lead actor, and video editor) conducted before and after the production. The interviewees discussed their motivations for participation and the effect the experience had on their Japanese language learning and community integration in Kochi. They stated that Genki was important for forming connections within the local community, with both Japanese and non-Japanese, as well as increasing their Japanese ability. However, while a positive experience, online video was less effective than live theatre for achieving these goals. Genki土佐弁ミュージカル（Genki）は、1996年に高知県内の外国人が土佐弁でオリジナルミュージカルを上演し、草の根の文化交流を目的に県内を巡回する毎年恒例の演劇公演である。2020年、新型コロナウイルス禍の制限により公演が中止となったが、主催者はミュージカルをZoomを使用してリモートで作成したオンラインビデオに変更した。本稿は、ビデオ制作前後の主要人物（監督・脚本家、プロデューサー、主演俳優、映像編集者）へのインタビューから得た質的データを取り上げる。インタビューでは、参加の動機とその経験が日本語学習と現地でのコミュニティ参画にどのように影響したかが語られ、地元の外国人と日本人コミュニティ内でのつながりの構築と日本語能力の向上に、Genkiが重要な役割を果たしていると述べられている。公演開催はポジティブな体験ではあったが、オンラインビデオでは、これらの目標に対する効果がライブ公演ほどには得られなかったことがわかった。

English language speech contests are popular in Japanese junior and senior high schools, bringing prestige to winning students’ schools and aiding winners to gain admission to university (Nishikawa-Van Eester, 2009). As a result, students and teachers devote a great deal of effort practicing for these high-stakes contests. However, there has been very little research examining what motivates students, especially pre-university ones, to join speech contests or how students feel about their experience of participating. In this study, 25 high school and 73 junior high school speech contest participants completed anonymous surveys (including both Likert-type quantitative questions and qualitative open response questions) examining two areas. The first is the reasons students join speech contests (e.g., to win a prize), and the second is students’ overall experience of the contest itself (e.g., was it stressful?). In addition, 36 teachers of speech contest participants were asked why they felt their students joined the contests and their impressions of their students’ experiences in order to look for any differences between teacher impressions and the reported experiences of the students. The two surveys showed that both students and teachers felt the most important reason for students joining speech contests, in order of ranking, was a desire for personal growth, followed by self-expression, improving English communication skills, making social connections, and winning a prize. The fact that winning a prize was considered the least important reason to participate indicates that these students were primarily intrinsically rather than extrinsically motivated to compete. Regarding the second question, the overall experience of participating in a speech contest was positive for students, with the majority enjoying the contest and wishing to repeat the experience. In addition, students reported feeling more confident in their public speaking as a result of participation, as well as having made improvements in their English communication abilities. The most surprising result is that students do not consider the experience to be stressful, although outside observers such as teachers may perceive that it was the opposite. Overall, we can conclude that speech contests are a generally positive experience with many benefits for students who participate, thus justifying the heavy time commitment involved for both students and teachers.