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毎月第２週目は「文化警察24時」（Culture Cops）をお届けしています。今回取り扱うのは、私たちの住む日本の「お箸」です。

食がグローバル化しつつある現在、外国人にとってのお箸は、日本人が想像する以上に身近な存在です。このため、彼らに「お箸の使い方が上手ですね」と言うのは、たとえ褒めたつもりでも、相手にはむしろ失礼な印象を与えることが多いようです。

でも、今回の会話のような場面に遭遇したら「文化警察」の出番です！お箸にまつわる日本のタブーについて、ぜひ説明できるようになりたいものですね。

「文化警察24時」は、少し英語が苦手！という皆さんを対象にした、長さもレベルも聞きやすい番組です。しっかり聞いて、しっかり声に出して練習してみましょう。

（初級）Culture Cops (5): In Japan

Val: Sir, my name is Officer Val. Do you know why I stopped you tonight?

Man: No… No, ma'am. I'm not sure.

Val: Sir, did you know that it's culturally inappropriate in Japan to stick your chopsticks straight into a bowl of rice and leave them there?

M: NOW THAT'S JUST ABSURD!

Val: I'm sorry. I don't make the rules, sir. I just enforce them. If you have a problem with the ticket you'll be receiving tonight, you are more than welcome to take it up with the district judge.

M: A judge? Officer, you're kidding me! All I did was stick my chopsticks into a bowl of rice!

V: Sir, you clearly don't know how rude that is in this country. According to tradition, you are only supposed to stick your chopsticks in a bowl of rice when you are offering the rice to the spirit of a person who died. Unless you are doing that, I'm afraid you've broken international moral law. I'm sorry sir, but you're under a-riced… I mean arrest!

(Written by Matteen Aminpour)