（日本語は後半にあります）
【English】
My younger brother and his son came from our hometown. Their purpose was to watch a soccer match held at Ajinomoto Stadium. For me, this was my second time watching a soccer match in my life, the first being in February of this year.
Ajinomoto Stadium is located in Chofu City. From our house, we first need to get to Shinjuku Station, then transfer to the Keio Line and ride it to Tobitakyu Station. With my elder son, who was super excited, and my younger son, who didn't seem very enthusiastic, we headed out in a group. The stadium is about a five-minute walk from Tobitakyu Station. We bought lunch at a convenience store along the way.
Ajinomoto Stadium can hold just under 50,000 people, so it's of course a large stadium. However, compared to the National Stadium I visited in February, it felt a bit smaller. That said, for my younger son, who was watching a soccer match for the first time, it must have seemed enormous. Not long after sitting in our seats, he suddenly started crying and said, "I want to go home," with tears streaming down his face. I was quite surprised.
According to my younger son, "It's too high and scary. I want to sit closer to the front." Ajinomoto Stadium has two levels: upper and lower tiers. We were seated in the upper tier (toward the back), so I guess you could say we were sitting at a relatively high spot. However, the stands slope gently downward to the lowest level, and it didn’t feel scary to me at all... My younger son wasn’t very enthusiastic about going from the start, so maybe he was just unhappy about being dragged along against his will. Or perhaps he was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the stadium and the loud cheers from the supporters 😅. Personally, I really love that kind of atmosphere, though!
He was sulking for a while, but in the second half of the match, he gradually got into the spirit and started cheering along with everyone. The team we were rooting for won, so we left the stadium in high spirits. The train ride home was packed with other fans, and we couldn’t find seats, so we got a little tired — but we definitely got a lot of walking done!
By the way, my nephew, who will turn five in May, was as needy and childish as ever.
We had asked him to be quiet since we live in a rental apartment, but he kept shouting, jumping around, and sticking stickers on the floor...
Since he's not my own child, I couldn’t really scold him too harshly, and it wore me out. On top of that, he wet the bed, so I ended up having to wash the bedding covers first thing in the morning... I couldn’t wash the futon itself, so I left it out in the sun for hours. It eventually dried and no longer smelled, but the circular pee stain wouldn’t come out...
Even though I have two kids of my own, I’m not very good at dealing with little children. I tend to come across as cold, so I think my nephew probably sees me as “the scary aunt.”😅
【Japanese】
地元から弟と甥っ子がやってきました。目的は味の素スタジアムで開催された、サッカーの試合の観戦です。私は今年の2月に引き続き、人生で２回目のサッカー観戦となりました。
味の素スタジアムは調布市にあり、自宅からだとまず新宿駅まで行き、そこから京王線に乗り換えて飛田給まで行く必要があります。ノリノリの長男と、あまり気が進まないらしい次男を連れて、ゾロゾロと向かいました。飛田給駅からは徒歩5分ほどの場所にあります。途中のコンビニでお昼ご飯を買って行きました。
味の素スタジアムは収容人数5万人弱の、もちろん大きなスタジアムではあるのですが、2月に訪れた国立競技場と比べると少し小さく感じられました。しかしサッカー観戦が初めての次男にとっては、とても巨大に思えたのでしょう、座席に座ってしばらくするとポロポロと涙をこぼして「帰りたい」と泣き出したのには驚きました。
次男曰く、「高くて怖い、もっと前の席に座りたい」とのこと・・・確かに味の素スタジアムは上層と下層の2階建となっており、私たちは上層の席（後ろの方）でしたので、高いといえばまあ高いのですが・・・と言っても、最下層まではなだらかな階段だし、高くて怖いとはとても思えませんでした・・・元々あまり気乗りがしない状態だったのを半ば無理やり連れて来られたという思いもあり、気に入らなかったのか、或いはスタジアムの大きさやサポーターの声援に気圧されたのかもしれません😅私はあの雰囲気、好きなんですけどね！
しばらくはメソメソしていた次男でしたが、後半はあたりから一緒に応援しながら楽しむことができました。私たちが応援していたチームは勝ったので、気分よく会場を出られたのはよかったです。帰りの電車も観戦客で激混み、なかなか座れず少し疲れましたが、たくさん歩くことができました！
ところで、5月で5歳になる甥っ子は相変わらずの甘えん坊でした。我が家は賃貸なので、泊まる時はできるだけ静かにねとお願いしていたのですが、大きな声は出すし、飛び跳ねるし、床にシールを貼るし。。自分の子どもじゃないので、あまり強くも注意できなくて疲れました。おまけに布団におねしょして、今日は朝から布団カバーを洗濯する羽目に。。。敷布団の方は洗えないので天日で長時間干して、何とか乾いたし臭いはしなくなったものの、丸いおねしょの後は消えず。。
私は自分に子どもが2人いる割に小さな子どもの相手はあまり得意ではありません。どうしても塩対応になってしまうので、甥っ子には「怖い伯母ちゃん」と思われていると思います😅
