The socialization processes occurring in the Japanese elementary school classroom are analyzed, particularly the processes that are implicit, teaching children to be competent members of society by participating in detail routines. A perspective is that the specific participation structure of Japanese classrooms serves as a major socialization resource for Japanese children to acquire attentive listening skills. Data are drawn from 15 hours of audiotaped interaction in 5 classrooms (2 third-grade, 3 fourth-grade) of about 40 children each, in 4 different Japanese schools. The analysis looks at two participant structures (dyadic, typical of American classrooms, and the "interactional umbrella" or multi-party interaction more common in Japanese classrooms), the roles of peer students and teacher as evaluators and supporters of individual student response, the teacher's role as a facilitator of listening, and socialization for listening as part of Japanese cultural patterns. It is concluded that throughout the participation in Japanese classroom interaction, students are socialized to be competent listeners, and also develop other cognitive and social skills by taking part in this participant structure, helping them to be good group members. Contains 27 references. (MSE)