Born in 1980 in Miyazaki, Akihito Yoshida presently lives in Kyoto. After graduating in Special Education from Shiga University, he taught as a primary school teacher through 2010 when he started his activities as a freelance photographer.

His work focusing on manual labourers in Bangladesh resulted in the self-publication of his photo book Brick Yard in 2014, which was later nominated for the Paris Photo - Aperture First Photo Book Award. From 2013 until 2015, Yoshida was engaged in a project related to workers in the hides industry in Bangladesh, and in 2016, self-published the photo book Tannery. While publishing his works in major publications including Nikkei National Geographic, he continues to actively showcase his photographs in solo exhibitions.

The life story of his grandmother and his cousin has been exhibited at the Kyotographie International Photography Festival, the Lianzhou Foto Festival (both 2017), and at the Singapore International Photography Festival (2018).

Yoshida received numerous awards including the Nikkei National Geographic Photography Award for People (2016), and the Konica Minolta Photo Premio Prize (2014).