The Asama-class cruisers were a pair of armored cruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the late 1890s. As Japan lacked the industrial capacity to build such warships herself, the ships were built in Britain. They were part of the "Six-Six Fleet" expansion program that began after the defeat of China during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95. Between them, the sister ships participated in all four main naval battles of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05—the Battle of Port Arthur, the Battle off Ulsan, the Battle of the Yellow Sea, and the Battle of Tsushima—but played a much more minor role in World War I. Asama ran aground while searching for German commerce raiders in early 1915 and was under repair for the next two years. Tokiwa participated in the Battle of Tsingtao (1914) and also searched for commerce raiders. Both ships made training cruises during the war and continued to do so after 1918.
Asama continued to make training cruises until she ran aground again in 1935, after which she became a stationary training ship for the rest of her career. Tokiwa, converted into a minelayer in 1922–24, was placed in reserve in 1927 after an accidental explosion of several mines damaged her. The ship became a training minelayer in 1940. During the Pacific War of 1941-1945, Tokiwa participated in the occupation of the Gilbert Islands (1941) and Rabaul and Kavieng (1942) in New Guinea. Damaged by American aircraft shortly afterwards, the ship was forced to return to Japan for repairs. Tokiwa laid minefields during 1944–45 until she was twice damaged by mines in 1945. Shortly before the end of the war, American aircraft inflicted heavy damage on the ship and her crew had to beach her. Tokiwa was salvaged in 1947 and subsequently broken up for scrap. Asama survived the war intact and was scrapped in 1946–47.
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