Born in Atami, a seaside town close to Tokyo, Japan, Uchida moved to Vienna, Austria when she was twelve with her diplomat parents, and she enrolled at the Vienna Academy of Music to study with Wilhelm Kempff and Stefan Askenase.
Born in Atami, a seaside town close to Tokyo, Japan, Uchida moved to Vienna, Austria in 1960 when she was twelve years old with her diplomat parents after her father was named the Japanese ambassador to Austria. She enrolled at the Vienna Academy of Music to study with Richard Hauser, and later Wilhelm Kempff and Stefan Askenase.