Born in Japan Kanagawa prefecture, Naoko Takeuchi started to learn harmonica at the age of 8 with Shigeaki Iwasaki.
 Takeuchi showed her talent in harmonica at early years when she got the champion in F.I.H.Japan Harmonica Contest tremolo class in 1988, and twice in the chromatic class in 1992 and 1994 .
 To search for perfection, she furthered her study on chromatic harmonica with Yasuo Watani at Hohner Konservatorium Trossingen, Germany in 1994. This won her the 1st prize in World Harmonica Festival in 1997.
 After graduation, she returned Japan and performed actively as a soloist, and occasionally collaborated with orchestras and chamber music groups all around the country.