Kimiko Yoshida was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1963. She pursued studies in literature at Chuo University, Tokyo, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1986. Later she studied photography at the Tokyo College of Photography (1995), then in France at the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie in Arles (1996), and at Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains (1999). She now divides her time living and working among Paris, Venice, and Tokyo.