姪っ子からの手紙 | A Letter from My Niece

先日、姉に送ってもらったユニクロのヒートテックの股引の小包の中には、上の姪っ子から手紙が入っていた。

姉は実家の近くに住んでいる。姪っ子の通う小学校も僕と姉が昔通った公団のそばで菊畑の中の小学校だ。残念ながら宅地造成などで畑や田んぼ、ザリガニ採りをした沼や池などはほとんどない。

姪っ子が通う習字教室も、僕と姉が小学校の時に行っていたところと同じ場所で、同じ先生が現役でやっている。

字を書くのが楽しい年頃なのだろう。今年、僕が帰国した際に僕はローソンで割引券を買い（姪っ子たちが行き慣れている）海遊館に電車で連れて行った。海遊館のおみやげのコーナーで、せがまれたので、５００円までということで、買うものを選ばせた。上の姪っ子はペンか鉛筆を選んだと思う。その時は絵を描くと言っていたが、それで手紙を書いてくれたのだ。

来月はその上の姪っ子の誕生日なので、僕の手書きの手紙と一緒に何かを送ろうかと思う。


I talked about Uniqlo's HeatTech long john before. Actually, there was a letter from my older niece in the package.

My sister lives near our home (our parents' house). My nieces attend the same elementary school near municipal residential complexes (and used to be surrounded by chrysanthemum fields) as my sister and I attended. Unfortunately, there are not many chrysanthemum and rice fields and ponds where I used to take American craw fish in the 21st century.

My nieces go to the same calligraphy class, that my sister and I used to go. It is the same location and instructor is the same lady that I learned from.

I think, for my older niece, it is a time for her that it is so much fun to write anything. When I went back home this year, I bought discounted tickets to Kaiyukan - Osaka aquarium at a nearby Lawson and I took my nieces to the aquarium by train. At the souvenir corner of the aquarium, my nieces asked me to buy something for them. I told them that I could buy things for them within a price of 500 yen. My older niece chose a pen or a pencil, I think. When I bought it for her, she said she was going to draw something. Well, she wrote me in a letter then.

Next month, she will have her birthday, so I am planning to send her something with my handwritten letter.