The Asama Maru was the first of two practically identical sister ships ordered by Nippon Yusen KK of Tokyo and built by Mitsubishi at Nagasaki in the late 1920s. Registered upon completion at 16,975 tons gross, she measured 583 feet in length with a 72 foot beam and could make 21 knots at maximum speed. Driven by quadruple screws powered from four 19,100bhp. Sulzer diesel engines, her intended cruising speed was 19 knots and she could accommodate 822 passengers in three classes watched over by a crew of 330.

Launched on 30th October 1928 and completed on 15th September the next year, she cleared Yokohama for her maiden voyage to San Francisco on 10th October 1929 and arrived at the Golden Gate on the 21st having turned in an excellent passage. After eight years of reliable service, she was undergoing routine repairs at the Taikoo Dockyard, Hong Kong, in 1937 when the colony received a hurricane warning. Although prudently moved to a safe anchorage in Saiwan Bay, the hurricane struck with such force on 2nd September that the ship's starboard anchor chain broke; with her port anchor unable to hold her, Asama Maru was literally tossed ashore and left stranded on the rocky coast. The Nippon Salvage Company eventually refloated her in March 1938 but only after six months of strenuous effort and the removal of 3,500 tons of fixtures including two of her four main engines. Finally back in service that September following extensive repairs, she operated for a further three years prior to being requisitioned by the Japanese Navy as a transport on their entry into the Second World War in December 1941. After three years as a naval auxiliary, she was torpedoed and sunk by the U.S. submarine Atule south of Pratas Island in the South China on 1st November 1944.