She also qualified for Japan's senior championships, where she won the bronze medal behind Midori Ito and Junko Yaginuma.

[4] In the 1989–90 season, Sato was the Japanese junior champion for the second year in a row and the silver medalist on the senior level.

In the 1992–93 season, Sato defeated Nancy Kerrigan and Chen Lu to win the 1992 Skate America.

In the 1993–94 season, Sato won the bronze medal at the 1993 NHK Trophy and placed sixth at the pre-Olympic Piruetten competition in Norway.

At the Olympics, she popped an intended triple Lutz in the short program and placed seventh in that segment of the competition.

She is credited as a stunt performer in the 2007 figure skating comedy motion picture Blades of Glory.

[5] She commentated for NHK during the 2006 Winter Olympics, including the broadcast of Shizuka Arakawa's winning performance.