Yukio was born on the 7th of May in Yokohama, Japan and it is still his hometown today - apart from his European base in Belgium during the race season. His family live there and Yukio is happy to spend his life there when he’s not racing.

His passion for motorcycle racing started when he was in elementary school and he watched GPs on TV. His passion soon turned into an addiction and, at about eight years old, he ‘stole’ his mother’s scooter and went out for a ride! As he grew up, he spent more and more time with his older brother because he found his peers a bit immature. It was his older brother who got Yukio more and more involved with motorcyles, and it wasn’t too long before Yukio went on the track for the first time - age 15 - on a 50 cc roadbike.

That was the start of a life in racing and although Yukio experienced the usual financial problems, he showed his skill and determination right from the start. After progressing through the ranks of national racing, Yukio decided that his future lay outside of his homeland and so he moved to England to race in the highly-competitive and well regarded British Superbike Championship with Suzuki. In 2003, a crash at Cadwell Park nearly took his life, but Yukio returned to action in less than a year and finished third in the series - despite being very much injured. The highlight of the year was winning at Cadwell and doing a burn-out in front of the crash barrier where he had suffered his near-fatal crash!

Yukio joined the Alstare team in 2005 and tasted WSBK success in the first round in Qatar, before going on to finish fifth in his debut year. Off the track, Yukio is one of the most light-hearted and popular guys in the paddock and has built up a huge fan-base worldwide. For him racing is not just a job, it is a passion!