Tomoko Yoshida is a new Japanese exchange student who hangs around with Betty. She is yet another member of the cast added in the early 2000s. She is an excellent writer and works on the school paper. Like Betty, her dream is to be a professional writer. Before her introduction, Asian people had been seen in the comics, but never as recurring characters. Other Asian teenagers may still appear, but Tomoko is the most frequently-seen. She has a brother named Akira.