Yuji Miyake and Hisahiro Ogura Reflect on 47 Years as the Powerful Duo of “SET”

Ogura’s preparedness

During this time, while their popularity continued to grow, in 2011, Miyake, who was 60 years old at the time, was hospitalized with spinal canal stenosis, leading to a long-term departure from the theater troupe. He was diagnosed with a loss of sensation in his lower body and was told that it might be difficult for him to return to the stage. The theater troupe was thrown into significant turmoil due to the absence of its leader and star actor, Miyake.

Miyake: SET had been performing almost every year since its inception, and at the time, we had another performance coming up. But during my hospitalization, I left things to the troupe members, so I wasn’t aware of the situation.

Ogura: At first, we were heading towards canceling the performance. But during a conversation, I casually said something like, “Is it really the right thing for the theater troupe to not perform just because Miyake can’t be there?” And for some reason, it was interpreted as, “Ogura is motivated!” (laughs).

In the end, the performance went ahead, and Miyake secretly showed up on the first day with crutches, didn’t he? Later, I heard that Miyake himself wasn’t told how serious his condition actually was.

Miyake: At first, the agency was only told that even with surgery, there might not be a full recovery. But sooner or later, they had to tell me too.

After the surgery, when the agency was going to tell me, my wife stopped them, saying, “Don’t tell him. Miyake will absolutely recover!” That helped me a lot, and I think it allowed me to focus fully on rehabilitation.

Ogura: We were told that Miyake had been hospitalized for a bad back. So, whenever we asked about it, the agency would just give vague answers. After hearing the full story later, everything started to make sense.

Miyake: When I was hospitalized, the directors and others would take turns visiting me, but since they couldn’t talk about the core issue, I often just listened to their struggles and unrelated stories. I always wondered why they were coming (laughs).