Yoshiko Nakura graduated summa cum laude from both Toho Gakuen School of Music High School and Toho Gakuen School of Music. She studied also at the Juilliard School as a scholarship student, where she formed the Tokyo String Quartet with her fellows at Toho, and the group was coached by the Juilliard String Quartet. In 1970, the Tokyo String Quartet won First prize at the Internationaler Musikwettbewerb der ARD in Munich and the Coleman Auditions for Young Chamber Music Ensembles. She performed worldwide and participated in numerous international music festivals as a member of the quartet, which also recorded for Deutsche Grammophon.

In 1974, she left the Tokyo String Quartet, and went to Belgium where she appeared with the Amphion Quartet, and recorded for Decca. In 1975, she went back to the United States, where she was active as a solo violinist and performed with many orchestras. As a chamber musician, she appeared at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, while also teaching at Philadelphia Music Academy and Smith College. In 1977, she moved to Hamburg, and was active in Germany and other European countries, and performed with many orchestras. She appeared at the Marlboro Music Festival organized by Rudolf Serkin and taught at the Hamburg Conservatory. In 1981, she became the guest concertmaster of the Bamberger Symphoniker. Since 1985, she toured in Europe and Japan every year as a member of Nippon Octet which was formed by musicians in Europe.

She studied under Ryosaku Kubota, Jeanne Isnard, Hideo Kobayashi, Kenji Kobayashi, Yuriko Kuronuma, Paul Makanowitzky, Ivan Galamian, and Felix Galimir.

In 1988, she returned to Japan. Currently, she is professor in the College of Music at Ferris University, and teaches at the Toho Gakuen School of Music. She is a member of the Mito Chamber Orchestra and Saito Kinen Orchestra, and is widely active as a soloist and chamber music teacher.