You are learning first words at a tokyo counter: you will read the scene it happens in, learn 10 words and phrases, take apart the pattern behind them (polite form — always use this at taste level), hear them in a conversation, rehearse them, and finish by saying one thing out loud to be graded.
A standing soba counter near Shinjuku station. 7:30am. Salary workers eating in 8 minutes and leaving. You walk up. You say one word first: sumimasen. Everything begins there.
Tachi-gui — standing and eating — is the Tokyo way. You stand at the counter, you order, you eat in ten minutes, you leave. The efficiency is the ritual. The soba bar near Shinjuku station has been here since 1974. The broth is made fresh every morning from kombu and bonito. The soba is buckwheat and comes cold in summer, hot in winter.
The stranger walks up. There is one other customer — a businessman eating with complete focus. The stranger says: 「すみません」 — sumimasen. The woman behind the counter looks up immediately. She's already waiting for the order.
「そばをください」 — soba o kudasai. She points to a menu overhead showing two options: hot or cold. The stranger points at the cold option. She nods and turns away. Three minutes later: a bowl of cold soba, dipping broth, and green onions.
The stranger says 「いただきます」 before eating. The businessman glances over with something like approval. One word in Japanese, and you're already doing it right.