 Kikuchi made her debut in 1999, under her birth name, Yuriko Kikuchi, with the Kaneto Shindo film "Will to Live".Soon after, in 2001, she starred in the celebrated Kazuyoshi Komuri film , which was featured at several international festivals, including the Rotterdam Film Festival.In 2004, Kikuchi appeared in the well-received Katsuhito Ishii film "The Taste of Tea", which was selected for the Cannes Film Festival.