Born in, Osaka, Japan, Youmi grew up in the suburbs. She entered Kobe College High School and at the age of 16, she travelled to California by herself. After graduating from high school there, she studied piano under Ena Bronstein and Philip Lorenz at California State University, Fresno.
However it was after returning to Japan that she then focused her efforts on the study of voice. Unfortunately after some time, the emergence of a spinal problem forced her to temporarily give up singing. Youmi gradually regained her health and in 1988 she discovered the Gartner lyre, an instrument invented by the followers of Rudolf Steiner in the early 20th century. Since learning that instrument, one of Youmi’s main styles of performing has been to sing with the accompaniment of the soothing sounds of the lyre. In 2001, the song “Itsumo Nando Demo”(Always With Me), composed and sung by Youmi, was selected as the theme song for the animated film “Spirited Away”, directed by the internationally acclaimed Hayao Miyazaki. Not only did the theme song quickly become a huge hit in Japan, but Youmi was honored with the Japan academy Award for “Best Theme Song”, the Japanese “Golden Award for Best Selling Record” and shared the Mainichi Film Competition Award for “Best Movie Soundtrack”. The film “Spirited Away” proved to be the top grossing film in Japanese history then, winning such prestigious awards as the “Golden Bear Award for Best Picture” at the Berlin Film Festival, the “Best Animated Feature Film” award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and many others.
In 2003 “Sekai No Yakusoku” (The Promise of the World) was released, a song which Youmi composed in collaboration with Japan’s most beloved poet of today, Shuntaoro Tanikawa. Later “Sekai No Yakusoku” was once again chosen as the theme song of Miyazaki’s film, “Howl’s Moving Castle” (In the movie, it was sung by Chieko Baisho who did the voice of the heroine.).
To date Youmi has released two singles and seven albums under the Tokuma Japan Communications label, while continuing to appear at numerous concerts throughout the country. In addition to performing solo with her lyre, Youmi often sings with the accompaniment of various instruments; including the piano, guitar, other stringed instruments and entire orchestras. The live recording of the concert "The music of Studio Ghibli with Orchestra", in which Youmi participated singing "Sekai No Yakusoku" with them, has been reliesed as a CD album under the U-can label in 2019.