Takuya Chigira, Ado’s manager and the CEO of her management agency Cloud Nine, was candid in a new feature with Bungeishunju Plus, outlining why Ado continues to pursue overseas tours and why Japan can’t afford to be left behind in making its mark globally.
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Chigira discussed Ado’s dramatic improvement in overseas tour success, revealing that past overseas tours initially turned a profit only from merch sales, making a loss on the touring itself. He said that Ado had far more potential to draw audiences than past tours and events had offered, even as recently as matsuri ’25 last March (featuring Ado, ATARASHII GAKKO!, YOASOBI, and more), whose venue, the Peacock Theatre, had a capacity of just 7,000. Chigira noted that many in the crowd were Japanese who had traveled from Japan. Despite the great performances, he said he felt frustrated.
Ado, via Chigira; ATARASHII GAKKO!, via Yusuke Nakagawa (president of their management company); and YOASOBI, via their producer Yohei Yashiro, have all spoken about the need to go overseas, with Yashiro admitting to losing money on overseas tours. You can read an article about Nakagawa and Yashiro’s interview on the topic here: ‘You’ll Find Yourself in a Slump’: YOASOBI Producer Reveals Group Is Losing Money on Overseas Performances, but Shares Why They Do It Anyway.
Nevertheless, Chigira said it’s necessary to keep going. He said that Korea had seized the initiative in making its music global, becoming the face of music originating from the region—an “Asian Pop” led by K-Pop, Chigira says. He adds that HYBE, which launched BTS, has begun signing Latin American artists, reflecting the next trend, and lamented that Japan had only been a relatively small part of the rise in Asian music: “The Asian boom that has lasted for about 10 years is coming to an end.“
On the recent rise of the Japanese music’s stature (in comparison to Korea’s): “To use an analogy, it’s like having a local singer who’s recently become popular in the provinces, but almost no one in Tokyo knows them. Even if they were to tour Southeast Asia and become a hit, it would be the same thing. They wouldn’t be able to reach the huge markets of Europe and America, which are the center of the world.” This isn’t the first time he’s voiced frustrations on this subject, previously describing Korea’s domination of the perception of Asian music as a “crisis“ for Japan.
Having long championed Ado as someone who can improve Japan’s stature on the world stage, Chigira remarked how they drew 500,000 attendees last year for Ado’s Hibana tour. This was a result of slowly building trust by packing smaller, overseas venues and understanding the fundamental differences in venue and booking structures between overseas and Japan.
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Differences Between Japanese and European/American Toruing
He delved into the differences between Japanese tours and those in Europe and the U.S. Chigira said in Japan, music agencies pay a booking fee to venues and are responsible for ticket sales themselves. (This is a generalization.) Meanwhile, in the U.S., venues sell tickets and pay agencies a cut of the profits. While taking on increased risk, the former means artists can book venues based on their own assessment of their pull, meaning greater potential rewards.
Meanwhile, in Europe and the U.S., the venues sell the tickets and pay the artists a portion of the profits, meaning venues are more likely to reject those who they assess won’t lead to ticket sales; Chigira said that for Ado’s 2024 tour, only 1-2k-capacity venues would offer space, based on their assessment of her draw. This limited her potential. Therefore, touring and demonstrating her outsized demand was key to bigger venues. Furthermore, while lotteries are more common in Japan, many overseas platforms increase prices based on demand, increasing overseas profits.
- In reality, in both Japan and overseas, venues, artists/music agencies, and promoters can handle ticket sales. Top-tier talents with strong agencies (like Ado’s) have the infrastructure to handle promotion and ticketing (through sales platforms like Lawson that take a small fee). Nevertheless, indie groups in Japan may also book venues and handle ticket sales. (See: BanG! Dream.)
Japan Needs to Go Out Into the World
Chigira said it’s dangerous to stay in Japan, citing that artists compete for a limited number of domestic large venues, such as the 72,000-seater Nissan Stadium; time is otherwise spent in smaller venues. Adding that Ado could only do two days at the Nissan Stadium this year, pulling an estimated 1.4 billion yen (10,000 yen per ticket), he said a rough estimate of Ado’s 500,000 people across four months overseas, multiplied by an ambitious 50,000 yen per ticket fee, could pull 25 billion yen. “This is merely a rough estimate to make it easier to understand, but if you have the chance to go out into the world, I think you should definitely do it for business reasons.“
Recounting his past career, meeting and mentoring Ado, and her unique appeal, he repeated that J-Pop “still hasn’t resonated anywhere in Europe or America,” based on his experience during the Hibana tour. Despite regularly being complimented on Ado’s success back home, he says young artists like Ado aren’t bound by preconceived notions and know they belong on these stages:
“They grow much faster than those who tour the world while mistakenly believing they are doing something wrong. The reality is that Japanese music hasn’t yet made its mark on the world. That’s precisely why I’m thinking of what more we can do. Could we take it a step further?“
Next Steps for Ado & Chigira
Chigira discusses the next phase of his plans to expand Japanese music: Zipangu, an event held at Brookside at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on May 16, 2026. Chigira’s Cloud Nine will be organizing it alone, footing the estimated production costs of 1 billion yen; Ado, Atarashii Gakko!, Chanmina, HANA, MAN WITH A MISSION, Yuki Chiba, and 10-FEET are among the lineup, with a capacity of 35,000. Despite saying that it was a major risk, he said they had to do it now.
“It may sound audacious, but we also carry the hope that Japanese artists will continue to create music with dreams and hope, and that the Japanese music industry, which has supported us, will be able to expand its activities in the future.“
You can read the full interview below (paywalled). It’s a great read for fans of Ado and those who want to understand her and Chigira’s vision of standing among the world’s top artists.
Source: Bunshun
Image via “Vivarium” MV © 2026 UNIVERSAL MUSIC LLC
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