[2] Hasegawa visited war zones in the 1930s and 1940s, to highlight Japanese armed forces and patriotism in both her illustrations and writings.

Her mother came from a hatamoto family, while her father practiced law, and he was one of the first in Japan to do so in a modern manner.

[1] She worked as an illustrator for Nyonin Geijutsu (1928–1932), the Japanese women's literary journal founded by her older sister.

[9][10] In 1939, Hasegawa was the only female founding member of the "Army Art Association" (Japanese: 陸軍芸術協会, romanized: Rikugun Bijitsu Kyōkai).

[11] In February 1943, Hasegawa was among the founding members of the "Women Artists Service Corp." (Japanese: 女流美術家奉公隊, romanized: Jōryū Bijutsuka Hōkōtai), a paramilitary organization sponsored by the Imperial Japanese Army to engage women in patriotic activities.