He is a musician and plays from time to time in the bands Peace Pill and Safari. He is an artist and model as well, most well-known for his work with Japanese fashion designers Jun Takahashi and Takeo Kikuchi. Asano won the Most Popular Performer Award at the 1997 Japanese Academy Awards for Acri and was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category in 2004 for his performance in Zatôichi and he also received the Upstream Prize for Best Actor at the 2003 Venice Film Festival for his role in Last Life in the Universe. In 2014, he was awarded the Best Actor Award at the 36th Moscow International Film Festival for his role in My Man.
