THE STORY:

The first episode of Long Vacation aired on April 15, 1996 and ended on June 24, 1996.  The story is about Senna , 24 (Kimura) who is a college graduate who dreams of becoming a world class pianist. He teaches piano at a local piano school. Minami , 31 (Yamaguchi ) is an out of work model. On her wedding day, she gets dumped by her fiance, and loses all of her savings, which she gave to her fiance. Her fiance turns out to be Senna's former roommate. She rushes to Senna's apartment and finds out that her fiance has skipped town. With no money, and no where to go she moves in with Senna. Senna likes Ryoko (Matsu) who is a sophomore in college. He likes her a lot but just doesn't have the courage to ask her out. Koishikawa (Inamori) is Minami's best friend and is also a model. She provides much of the comedic relief in this show. Shinji ( Takenouchi) is Minami's younger brother who just happens to be better than Senna at piano. He opens a bar/nite club. Rumiko (Ryou) plays Shinji's girlfriend. Sasaki (Morimoto) is Senna's professor at college and is always encouraging Senna to perform at the next piano competition. long vacation is about sena hidetoshi (kimura takuya), a pianist who can't express his feelings, and minami (yamaguchi tomoko), a model who isn't really popular. sena and minami meet on the day that sena's roommate and minami are supposed to marry. minami rushes into sena's apartment with her wedding clothes on, and later finds out that the roommate ran away with another chick. and later, minami's brother, shinji (takenouchi yutaka), and his girlfriend (ryo) move into the same town as them. . . and the story (plot) get complicated after sena asks ryouko-chan (matsu takako) out and then 'animal shinji' falls in love with her, and then minami finds a guy who likes her, and sena finds out that he likes minami, and then sena loses his will to continue playing the piano, and then decides to play again

"The first episode is simply wonderful and I can't wait to see episode 2. I get a feeling this drama is going to be a very popular drama this year."

PRE-LONG VACATION HYPE

Log Entry: April 1996: Kakunaga-san writes: Takuya held a press conference Feb. 29 (Thursday) for his new drama "Long Vacation" which starts April 15 (9:00 pm Mondays on Fuji). He appeared with actress Yamaguchi Tomoko, his co-star, and with his new haircut! It's not much shorter, but he layered it a bit in the back, and he also had a perm. Yes, his hair has... big curls. Almost bubbly. He will be playing a part of a pianist whose former roommate was supposed to marry Yamaguchi Tomoko but disappeared on wedding day, and the two end up rooming together.

Log Entry: April 1996:  After the first year season of drama's in Japan...I was impressed by the season finale of the drama, "Pure". I hear Kimura Takuya is going to be in a drama with Yamaguchi Tomoko. It's going to be called, "Long Vacation". On the DORAMA mailing list and among few of my contacts, they can't wait to see the pairing of these 2 good actors. Also, the cast names I have seen for Long Vacation seems very interesting. From the press photographs, I have seen....I am a bit shocked to see the new hair style of KimuTaku. It's not that good..

Log Entry: April 15, 1996: All I can say is that the opening theme is awesome and the song, "La.La.La Love Song" by Kubota Toshinobu with Naomi Campbell (yes, the super model. She lives in the same apartment complex in NY that Kubota resides in) is smooth! I can't wait to buy the cd single. I just have to say that the acting of Yamaguchi Tomoko is incredible and Kimura Takuya did a great job as well. The first episode is simply wonderful and I can't wait to see episode 2. I get a feeling this drama is going to be a very popular drama this year.

Log Entry: October 7, 1996:   Today was the Long Vacation special.  It featured new footage of Junko and Sasaki but pretty much the whole series edited into a 2 hour special.  It was nice to see this to remember the drama.  Also, a Long Vacation CD box set came out this month.