[4] Hatano supports having more classes available in the evenings at junior high schools[5] and is opposed to stopping state grants to national universities, saying that tuition would increase dramatically.

Hatano was born on 19 January 1957 in Nakahara Ward, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture.

In the 1995 House of Councillors election, she ran as a Communist Party candidate for the Kanagawa at-large district, but was unsuccessful coming in 6th place.

[6] In the 1998 House of Councillors election, she again ran for the Kanagawa district and won, in part thanks to a boom of support for the Communist Party and the fact that the conservative vote had been split among a number of different candidates.

[7] She ran for re-election in the 2004 House of Councillors election for the Kanagawa district but was defeated, in part due to a decline in support for the Communist Party and in part due to the consolidation of the conservative vote around the candidate from the Liberal Democratic Party.