Keiko Kuromura

Suzu's sister-in-law, Harumi's mother, and a widow. In her youth, Keiko was fashionable lady ("Modern girl") in 1920s, Japan. She marries a man of a watch shop owner's family in Kure. She has one son (Hisao) and one daughter(Harumi), but the husband dies of illness. When the shop closes during the war, she is forced to give up her son(Hisao) to her late husband's parents in Shimonoseki. She acts coldly towards Suzu in the beginning. She blames Suzu for the death of her daughter, but she gradually begins to warm up to her and eventually accepts Suzu as a member of the family.