[2][3] She has recorded with Yellow Magic Orchestra and its members Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, as well as with Swing Out Sister, Pat Metheny, The Chieftains, Lyle Mays, members of Little Feat, David Sylvian, Mick Karn, Kenji Omura, Gil Goldstein, Toninho Horta, Mino Cinelu, Jeff Bova, Charlie Haden, Peter Erskine, Anthony Jackson, David Rhodes, Bill Frisell, Thomas Dolby, the band Quruli, Rei Harakami as Yanokami and her daughter Miu Sakamoto.
[4] She dropped out of high school and moved to Tokyo at the age of fifteen to become a professional musician, quickly became involved in the jazz scene, and by seventeen was working as a studio recording artist for hire.
[5] It was recorded primarily in Japan, and features Yano improvising on a variety of instruments, backed up by prominent musicians such as Rick Marotta and Haruomi Hosono.
[5] They also played as the backing band for her 1980 album Gohan Ga Dekitayo, which translates to "Dinner's Ready", and marked a shift in her musical style towards electro-pop.
[5] The album once again featured the Yellow Magic Orchestra, as well as a cartoonish heta-uma cover designed by Teruhiko Yumura,[13] but was only released in Japan.
[15][16] Yano was introduced to British band, Japan, by Ryuichi Sakamoto of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, and in 1982 they met at the AIR Studios in London to record an album, Ai Ga Nakucha Ne ("There Must Be Love").
[22] In addition, Yano composed music for Toei's animated feature, Atashin'chi[23] and piano-based soundtrack for the film Tagatameni.
In 2008, New York guitarist Marc Ribot joined Yano for sold-out shows at the Blue Note Tokyo.