Ayuo is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, film-scorer, artist, poet, and lyricist. He made 3 albums in the 80s for the Midi, Inc label, two of which were collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto. Later, in the early 2000s, he put out a series of CDs on the Tzadik label run by John Zorn. He also made numerous albums with Peter Hammill of Van Der Graaf Generator.

Ayuo grew up in New York City and moved to Tokyo in his teens, where he had a chance encounter with a Midi, Inc label executive.