Born and trained in Tokyo, Yoshida won the Prix de Lausanne in 1983 and joined Royal Ballet School in England. In 1984, she joined then Sadler's Wells (now: Birmingham) Royal Ballet and was promoted to principal in 1988. In 1989 she was awarded the Global Award and the Arts Encouragement Prize for Artists of the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Japan. In 1995, Yoshida joined The Royal Ballet as principal dancer and was known for her partnership with such as Tetsuya Kumakawa and Irek Mukhamedov. She was also appointed UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2001. In 2006, she joined K-ballet while she continued dancing with The Royal Ballet, before winning the Best Female Dancer in National Dance Awards. In 2007, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire for her services to dance. In 2010 she retired from the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden.
