Tomoaki Ogura: The Truth Behind the Ogura Pilgrimage to His Yakiniku Restaurant

“His opening talks on ‘Tokudane!’ were really Ogura-san’s off-the-cuff improvisations. He never mentioned beforehand, even in the planning stage, ‘I’ll say this.’ The staff were nervous, but he had many fans.”

Ogura was also very supportive and took care of others. Many people, including artists like Kobukuro and Ayaka, gained popularity thanks to Ogura’s strong backing.

Appearing on “Tokudane!” would boost CD sales.

“He would always attend concerts and even visit the backstage and after-parties. Naturally, people would gather around him,” says a music industry insider.

“If you got on his good side, you’d get featured on the program,” they continue.

Such hidden motives led many music industry figures and other professionals to frequent Ogura’s yakiniku restaurant, spending large sums of money. This became known as the “Ogura pilgrimage.”

“This wasn’t because Ogura directly told them, ‘Come to my restaurant.’ It was just that industry people, hoping to get closer to him, would eat and drink there, boasting about how much they spent, like ‘I spent 200,000 yen the other day,’ and the story grew in a way it wasn’t originally meant to.

Well, I’ve never heard of him favoring someone just because they spent a lot of money at his place. However, if you got featured on ‘Tokudane!’ it made a huge difference in CD sales compared to appearing on the rival show ‘Sukkiri’ on NTV. Industry professionals were desperate to get their musicians on ‘Tokudane!’ — there’s no doubt about that,” says the same music insider.

Ogura, who stuck to his on-site approach until his condition worsened, received numerous tribute messages from musicians and entertainers, a testament to how loved he was. — Rest in peace.