Hachi's first lover. A handsome, older, married man, Asano carried on a secret affair with Hachi that ended when he was abruptly transferred to Tokyo. Though Hachi believed that she was in love with him, she made the painful realization that he saw her as merely a "fling". Hachi encounters him again in Tokyo and, after resolving her own personal issues with him, tells him to stop cheating on his wife.