「欧米か！」が登場する漫才ももちろん収録。DVD『タカアンドトシ新作単独ライブ タカトシ寄席 欧米ツアー2006』（販売元：アール・アンド・シー）

* 2007/1/10 配信 ALC Newsletter No.52(ALC International Marketing 発行)より

* クリックできる語句には、語注がついています

"Obei ka!", is the catchphrase of a Japanese comedy duo Taka and Toshi, who began their career in 1994 and finally became very popular last year. "Obei ka!" literally means "You're not from the Western society!", but to make it sound more simple, let's just say "You're not an American!" in this article.

In a typical Taka and Toshi skit, Taka acts as if he was an American. Then Toshi tells him not to be silly by saying "Obei ka! (You're not an American!)" because they're both, obviously, Japanese and not American. Let me give you an example.

Do you see the point? These are funny because we don't have the custom of hugging each other nor drinking Diet Pepsi so often!

It's a little surprising that a show of this type, which deals with cultural differences between nations, had not been very common until Taka and Toshi brought it up. And now I guess that their show could be practiced as a role-playing game to learn about cultural differences in the world: Two or more people form a group, choose a certain country or area, do some research about the culture of the area and make some skits out of it. I imagine it could be quite fun and exciting!

By the way, if you were to make the opposite version of the "Obei ka!" skit──"Nihonjin ka!"(You're not Japanese!) skit──what would it be like? Let's try making one and draw a curtain on this article.