I think it is a little different than smalltalk. When people smalltalk, no matter how shallow the conversation is, there is still an intention to “get to know” with each other. But in the cashier example, the cashier does not have any goal to forge a relationship with the customer, but will repeat the same thing over and over because that’s what they’re told to do in the manuals.
No. Small talk is, by definition, incidental to the functional, "business" parts of the transaction. It excludes things like: "Your total is $X". "Out of the $Y you gave me, your change is ..." -- i.e., the things the GP was describing in Japan.
Edit: "Welcome to the store [some mini sales pitch]" might count as small talk, but is not what most people have in mind.
The difference would be that it’s one sided, there is no expectation of response.
It’s so funny when sometimes the clerk has been doing it that job so long that it’s not proper words anymore and you’re not even expected to parse it correctly, it just doesn’t matter.
It's not even a formality, the response is mostly automated. They are taught to do this but after a while it just becomes something they say without thinking much. Part of it is so the boss is happy. If the boss sees employee not following the script they can get some serious talking.
Bingo, they have a strict script which they stick to, and they has been trained for that. But I don't think that's what the grandparent was trying to say. He was trying to say that you don't get those kinds for "formalities" in Finland.
We're all generalizing in the extreme here, obviously, but having lived in both the East and the West, my observation would be that in Asian societies people are much less comfortable talking to strangers, and the script exists to facilitate interaction that otherwise simply wouldn't occur.
So small talk, then.