Born in Nara, Nara, she attended Kyoto Tachibana High School then went on to Kyoto Sangyo University.[1] Initially she was interested in volleyball but she gradually focused on long-distance running instead. Injuries blighted her early career but with a 10,000 metres win at the 2006 Japanese Collegiate Championships (in her final year of study) she her begin to establish herself.[2][3] That same year she also won the Kyoto Half Marathon in a personal best of 71:11 minutes.[4]
In 2008, she joined up with the Otsuka Pharmaceutical corporate running team and began training under their director Kono Tadashi.[2] The 2009 season brought results as she ran a string of personal bests, improving to 9:18.69 minutes for the 3000 metres, 15:55.64 minutes in the 5000 metres (coming sixth at the Japanese National Games) and 32:27.04 minutes for the 10,000 m.[5] She also won the half marathon section at the Shanghai Marathon and placed fourth at that year's Sendai Half Marathon.[2][6] She bettered her three track times again in 2010 (9:17.41, 15:48.35 and 32:14.43 minutes).[5] She also made her debut over the marathon distance and surprised more seasoned competitors by taking fourth place with a run of 2:29:13 hours at the Nagoya Marathon.[7]
Ito started 2013 with a personal best at the Berlin Half Marathon, taking third place with seventy minutes exactly.[14] A run at the 2013 London Marathon later that month saw her take seventh place in the high-profile race.[15]