Cross-cultural studies of Asian and American children suggest that the superior performance of Asian children in school settings is related to cultural and educational differences beginning in the home. In an effort to understand why Japanese children make a smooth transition from home to school, this study examined the home language environment of preschool children in native Japanese-speaking families in the United States. Participating in the study were 20 mothers and their children; half the children were 4-year-olds and half were 5-year-olds. Mothers were observed reading a Japanese translation of the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Transcripts of the verbatim mother-child verbal utterances other than reading were coded using a modified version of "The Coding System for Home Bookreading" in which utterances were coded as "immediate talk," such as labeling pictures; "nonimmediate talk," such as making real world connections or making inferences; or "other talk," such as requesting attention. The qualitative analyses revealed a ubiquitous pattern of the 3-part sequence among Japanese mothers during book reading, a sequence typically appearing in classroom interactions: the mother initiates usually in question form, the child responds, and the mother supplies feedback. Nonimmediate talk is considered to involve the types of skills necessary for school success. Quantitative analyses indicated that the correlation between mothers' nonimmediate talk and the children's nonimmediate talk was close to .90. (Contains 37 references.) (KB)