You are learning invitations: you will read the scene it happens in, learn 10 words and phrases, take apart the pattern behind them (polite invitations), hear them in a conversation, rehearse them, and finish by saying one thing out loud to be graded.
Inviting someone to dinner at Tonki (とんき), Meguro — a legendary tonkatsu counter open since 1939. The art of inviting without pressure.
Tonki has been frying tonkatsu in Meguro since 1939. The building is plain — white tile, wooden counter, fluorescent light. Behind the glass, three cooks in white stand over deep copper pots of oil, moving cutlets with long chopsticks in a choreography unchanged for decades.
The stranger has been in Tokyo for a week. He has a colleague, Tanaka-san, who has been helpful at the office. He wants to invite him to dinner but knows the etiquette: never corner someone into accepting.
「田中さん、今晩お時間ありますか。」 A gentle opener. 「目黒のとんきに行きませんか。」
Tanaka-san pauses. 「いいですね！行きましょう。」 The acceptance is immediate and warm. At Tonki, they sit at the counter. The loin cutlet arrives — golden, crackling, impossibly juicy. 「一緒に来てくれてありがとうございます。」 The stranger has learned: in Japanese, an invitation is a gift.