Details
Title: バージンロード
Title (English): Virgin Road
Genre: Romance, family drama
Episodes: 11
Viewership ratings: 21.1
Broadcasted by: Fuji TV
Broadcast period: 1997-Jan-06 to 1997-Mar-17
Air time: Monday 21:00
Theme song: Can You Celebrate? by Amuro Namie
Synopsis
To pursue her dreams, Sakurai Kazumi (Wakui Emi) quits her job and goes to New York to study jewelry design, against the objections of her naggy and stubborn but well-meaning father (Takeda Tetsuya). As part of remaking herself, she changes from spectacles to contact lenses, even though she has problems adapting to them. When she accidentally drops her contact lenses, a mysterious man helps prevent them from being stepped on, but he walks away before she can talk to him.
Some years pass, and Kazumi is on a plane home after receiving a letter from her brother Taku saying their father is critically ill. She has morning sickness and has some run-ins on the plane with a sloppily-dressed man, and it is only when she drops her contacts and the man helps her in a similar way that she recognises him (Sorimachi Takashi). She chases after him and asks, "would you like to do some work (arubaito)?" It turns out that Kazumi in her last letter from New York had written that she was in a relationship with someone and that they might soon marry, but since then she has broken up with him, and she didn't want to make her father upset by coming home alone. The man, a freelance journalist named Yoshimi Kaoru, agrees to pretend to be her fiancé.
On reaching home, Kazumi discovers that her father is not actually on his deathbed (he just had minor surgery), and everyone discovers that Taku had written that letter back to Kazumi where their father says he's happy about the relationship. But the biggest shock comes when Kazumi admits that she's pregnant, and that she wants to have the baby...
Cast
Wakui Emi as Sakurai Kazumi
Sorimachi Takashi as Yoshimi Kaoru
Hosho Mai as Onda Kiri
Terawaki Yasufumi as Arikawa Jun
Kitahara Masaki as Sakurai Taku
Furuoya Masato as the bar owner
Sera Masanori
Yo Kimiko as Michi
Takeda Tetsuya as Sakurai Hikari
Production Credits
Producer: Kurihara Miwako
Directors: Mitsuno Michio, Kimura Tatsuaki
Screenwriter: Tatsui Yukari
Episode Titles
Ep. 01: Fiancé for only one night... Lost love, father's critical illness, then pregnancy
Ep. 02: The fiancé's secret; it was supposed to be a fake relationship
Ep. 03: He's actually the one... A heart that wavers between seriousness and lies
Ep. 04: The baby's life at stake! The father suddenly appears
Ep. 05: Reunion, a shocking proposal
Ep. 06: The lie is discovered! The time of decision for love
Ep. 07: New love, jealousy, betrayal
Ep. 08: The sad breakup at that fated place... The concealed secret of Kazumi's birth
Ep. 09: A shocking confession of love on a lonely and hurtful night
Ep. 10: The last promise... A couple's tearful determination and vows
Ep. 11: The bride of dreams, thinking only of him... Opening fate's door with a bit of sadness in one's steps
