In 1975, Arai became known as a composer for "Ichigo Hakusho wo Mou Ichido", a commercially successful song recorded by the folk duo BanBan.

She also gained popularity as a vocalist in the same year through the success of "Ano Hi ni Kaeritai", which became her first number-one hit on Japan's Oricon Charts.

She also uses the name Kureta Karuho (呉田軽穂), which is derived from the Swedish film star Greta Garbo, when offering her work to other musicians.

[7] In The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture, it is written that "Yuming incorporated influences from progressive rock and European pop to produce a sophisticated, upper-middle-class female Japanese voice and sound in a contemporary musical and journalistic world dominated by discussions of folk music and social critique.

Throughout the 1980s, Matsutoya's music was prominently featured in advertisements for Mitsubishi Motors in her native Japan and her image was used to promote their vehicles.

In addition to multiple hit singles, she has obtained enormous commercial success on the Japanese Albums Chart, particularly during the late 1980s and the first half of the 1990s.

In those days, many celebrities went to the restaurant; Akira Kurosawa, Yukio Mishima, Kōbō Abe, Seiji Ozawa, Ryu Murakami, Taro Okamoto, Kishin Shinoyama, and Hiroshi "Monsieur" Kamayatsu, who eventually became her first record producer.

[11] Alfa Music, the publishing company to which she belonged early her in career (later to become a full-fledged record label in 1977), was founded by people who were regular customers at Chianti.

She recorded her first full album, Hikō-ki Gumo, with the band Caramel Mama, better known as Tin Pan Alley, which consisted of Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki, Tateo Hayashi and Masataka Matsutoya, and it was released by Toshiba EMI under its Express sublabel in November 1973; the title track (and lead-off track) was later used as the theme song for the movie The Wind Rises (2013).

The same year, the male folk duo BanBan recorded her song "Ichigo Hakusho o Mou Ichido" and reached number one on the Oricon chart.

The 14th Moon (1976), her final album as Yumi Arai, featured Leland Sklar on bass and Mike Baird on drums.

Besides, in the end of the year chart in 1976, three of her albums (Cobalt Hour, Yuming Brand, and Hikō-ki Gumo) ranked in the top 10.

However, in 1986, "Koibito ga Santa Claus" became popular as the theme song for the hit movie Take Me out to the Snowland [jp] (私をスキーに連れてって, Watashi wo Ski ni Tsuretette).

Her husband wrote the score for the movie Nerawareta Gakuen, which was directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi and distributed by Kadokawa Pictures.

1 hit singles, Matsutoya’s own work retained an almost militant focus on albums, and the balance she struck between commercial success and artistic integrity is a source of inspiration to many aspiring musicians.

The artwork of the album Sakuban Oaishimasho (1981) was designed by Hipgnosis, and the video Compartment was produced by Storm Thorgerson, Aubrey Powell and Peter Christopherson.

The Gates of Heaven and several of her albums in those years reflected an optimistic atmosphere in Japan caused by the asset price bubble around the end of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Her albums The Gates of Heaven (1990), Dawn Purple (1991) and Tears And Reasons (1992) performed very well on the Oricon charts, boosted partially by airplay.

However, in autumn 1993, she released "Manatsu no Yo no Yume", the first physical single in four years since "Anniversary", already known as the theme song of the TV drama Dare nimo Ienai.

A month before the live performances, a newly recorded version of her early standard song, "Machibuse" (she did not sing it herself), was released as a single.

In 2013, it was announced that Matsutoya's song Hikouki Gumo, would be used as the closing theme to the Studio Ghibli film The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu).

[18] As a songwriter and lyricist, Yumi Matsutoya wrote hundreds of songs for Hi-Fi Set, Asami Kobayashi, Kenji Sawada, Hiromi Gō, Toshihiko Tahara, Reimy and many other artists.

Several songs sung by Matsuda reached number one on the Oricon singles chart, including "Akai Sweet Pea", "Nagisa no Balcony" (1982) and "Hitomi wa Diamond" (1986).

Matsutoya has collaborated with many songwriters and lyricists, among them Yosui Inoue, Takashi Matsumoto, Kōki Mitani, Kunihiko Kase [jp], Shizuka Ijuin.

On her early albums, several famous 1970s Japanese singer-songwriters who had not yet succeeded at that time sang as the backing vocalists; Tatsuro Yamashita, Taeko Onuki, Akiko Yano and Minako Yoshida.

It was mostly composed by Oda and Matsutoya, arranged by Ryuichi Sakamoto and played by former Sadistic Mika Band members.

In 1986, Matsutoya co-wrote "Kissin' Christmas", a theme song for a TV program, with Keisuke Kuwata, the leader of Southern All Stars.

[21] In 2012 Yumi came to London to record "A Whiter Shade of Pale" with Procol Harum, a band she considered an inspiration for her work.

She sang a duet with Gary Brooker on this new version of the 1967 classic, which featured three verses and a guitar solo by Geoff Whitehorn.

Yumi and Procol Harum then played a series of December concerts in major Japanese cities, one of which was recorded for a later television showing.