Long Vacation

Long Vacation is a famous Japanese TV dorama from the Fuji TV network. It was first shown in Japan from 15 April to 24 June 1996. It was very well-received and enjoyed high ratings.

Summary

Spring 1996. A bride in a traditional Japanese wedding costume (Minami) runs along the roads, causing passers-by to stare. She arrives at a three-storey block of walk-up apartments and rings the doorbell. Inside lies Sena who is still asleep. He is awakened and opens the door to find the bride staring at him angrily and panting.

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"Where is Asakura?" Minami asks. It turns out that Asakura was her fiancé who was supposed to have turned up at their wedding. Sena says Asakura, his previous roommate, had already moved out. In his room, he finds a letter of apology to Minami for abandoning her like this, and Minami is shattered. It is minutes to the wedding ceremony and she has to return to explain the sorry situation to her friends and relatives. Sena reassures her that perhaps Asakura had changed his mind and was waiting for her at the temple, and she leaves.

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A few days pass. On walking home after work, Sena runs into Minami outside the basketball court downstairs, initially not recognising her. Minami beats around the bush before asking Sena to take her in, as she had given up her rented apartment and given all her money to Asakura. With the furniture-movers already downstairs, Sena relents...

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This is the beginning of a beautiful romance between Sena and Minami, although they are far apart in age and interests. Minami and Sena confide in and console each other about their relationship problems and their lack of success in life - Sena, at one point, says that if everything just doesn't seem to be going your way, one can treat it as a "long vacation" given by the gods, a time where one should relax and not take things too seriously. However, their love lives eventually begin to diverge. Minami, on the other hand, meets a professional photographer Sugisaki who proposes marriage. Finally Sena has a chance of winning a piano competition and going to Boston on a scholarship. Will he and Minami acknowledge their love and get together?

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