Asano graduated from the faculty of law of University of Tokyo in 1970 and joined the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
From 1972 to 1974 he was an exchange student at the University of Illinois, Graduate School of Political Science.
A few months after Asano arrived in Miyagi, the prefectural governor and the mayor of the city of Sendai were indicted in bribery charges that shocked the population.
He won, and his grass-roots approach to campaigning would carry him two more terms to the position of governor.
He faced Shintaro Ishihara, who run for his third four-year term, and several minor candidates.