sugiyama's life changes once his classes begin. rather than mai, his teacher is tamako tamura (reiko kusamura), who becomes an important mentor to him. he meets his classmates: tōkichi hattori (yu tokui) who joined to impress his wife, and masahiro tanaka (hiromasa taguchi) who joined to lose weight. he also meets toyoko takahashi (eriko watanabe), another student. he further discovers that one of his colleagues from work tomio aoki (naoto takenaka) is a regular at the dance studio. aoki, who is balding and mocked at work for his rigid ways, is revealed to be leading a secret life as a long-haired (via a wig) ballroom dancer. though distant from her, the classes increase his infatuation for mai. his secret thus becomes twofold: not only must he hide the lessons from his wife, he must also hide them from his friends and colleagues as it is considered embarrassing according to traditional japanese customs to participate in western ballroom dance.