[1] She studied violin at Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo.

In 1978, she went to study with violist Nobuko Imai at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England.

Inoue has served as principal violist for several orchestras, and has given recital and chamber music performances with such artists as Gidon Kremer and Jean-Jacques Kantorow.

She is a professor at the Royal Academy of Music and gives viola masterclasses throughout Europe and Japan.

Yuko Inoue plays a viola by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume dated 1852.