We’ve all been misled by textbooks at least once in our language learning lives 
For me it was thinking お元気ですか？ (O genki desu ka) was the best/most standard way of asking how are you in Japanese.
But it’s actually not commonly used by Japanese people at all!
I found a few good alternatives here though 
Have you guys ever felt betrayed by a textbook? 
Interesting!! I’m definitely guilty of dropping the ol’ ‘o genki desuka?’ more than once 
It’s kind of like 你好吗? (ni hao ma) in Mandarin, Chinese people seem to rarely use it with each other, but it’s one of the first things every Chinese language student learns!
Textbook language is never the way!
Learn off the locals 
I came across a Shorts on Instagram the other day. The guy also said it’s abnormal to ask. And if you happen to ask this question, 1000 questions would come to the mind of the Japanese as they take things very seriously. :))) Like “Why do you ask if I am ok?”, “Why do you even want to know?” and blah blah blah.
Very true！
I suppose its like asking someone in English “Are you okay?” (which feels like a real question) vs “How are you?” (usually perceived as more of a greeting)
The social rules and etiquette definitely play a much bigger part in learning Japanese than most people initially expect, even just for a simple “how are you” 