Japanese small talk is shorter than English small talk and far more predictable, which makes it easy to learn. Weather, where you are from, how long you are staying, whether you can use chopsticks. The questions are the same everywhere, so the answers are worth having ready.

The point is not the information. These exchanges are how a taxi driver or a counter chef signals that you are welcome to talk, and answering in Japanese — even badly — changes the temperature of the rest of the ride or the meal. Silence after a question reads as a closed door, not as shyness.