Yui Hatano (Japanese: 波多野 結衣/はたの ゆい, Hepburn: Hatano Yui, born May 24, 1988) is a Japanese AV idol, model, actress and idol singer. Boasting one of the longest and most prolific careers in Japanese pornography, Hatano made appearances in over 2000 adult films so far, thus making her one of the most popular and recognizable faces in AV. Her popularity crossed over into mainstream entertainment (with appearances in theatrical films) and international territories as well, earning her the nickname "Sekai no Hatano" ("The World's Hatano"). As of 2019 she's currently represented by the AV agency T-Powers, she is also a member of the idol group T♡Project.^[2]

Born on May 24, 1988 in Tokyo but raised in Kyoto, Hatano made her debut in the adult industry in 2008,^[3] when she first appeared in Amateur Or More ZERO, Less Than Actress 07 on July 3, 2008, under the Zero label of the AV company Prestige which specialized in finding and introducing amateur girls into the industry.^[4] Prior to performing in adult films, she had graduated from a cosmetology school, and had initially thought of becoming a gravure idol instead of doing AV. However the competitive and low-paying world of gravure forced to look for a more lucrative career which happened to be AV.^[1][5]

Hatano's first releases were on a monthly schedule under the Prestige, h.m.p. and Befree labels, however her popularity began to quickly rise and she began to appear at other companies like Attackers,^[6] Moodyz ^[7] and Soft on Demand ^[8] as well. Due to her matured looks she has often been cast into jukojo (housewife) or "older sister" type roles. She also became known for her flexible role-playing and willingness to appear in more hardcore genres (simulated rape, lesbian roles and S&M). Hatano also regularly appears in ensemble cast AV's and maintains a close relationship with other actresses like Chihiro Hara, AIKA, Ai Uehara, Tomoda Ayaka and Ruka Kanae. Her most notable working relationship is her friendly rivalship with fellow popular AV idol Hibiki Ōtsuki. Their pair "HibiHata" is well-known in the industry and they appeared in dozens of adult film since 2013. In 2014, she won the Best Actress award in the 2014 DMM Adult Awards.^[9]

Hatano's output and regular AV appearances only increased in time, and by 2019 she appeared in over 2400 AV's (including compilations).^[10] She also appeared in numerous uncensored porn scenes that were distributed outside of Japan, making her one of the more known Japanese porn stars in the West.

Hatano also became popular in Singapore and Taiwan, where she is regarded as a lookalike for the popular Taiwanese actress and model Lin Chi-ling.^[11] In a 2018 compilation of AV sales on Japanese e-commerce retailer FANZA, Hatano ranked first in the Top 10 digital downloads chart.^[12]

Hatano has had opportunities to work outside of the Japanese AV industry. She played a part in the 2013 movie Sou shen ji (Chinese: 搜神记, In Search of Spirits), a collection of short supernatural stories.^[13] She was also cast in a lead role in the 2015 Taiwanese film Sashimi (Chinese: 沙西米, transliteration of "sashimi").^[14][15]

In addition, she dabbled in the music industry when she joined musical idol group me-me*, which also featured AV idols Shiori Kamisaki, Ruka Kanae, and Maika. They launched a crowdfunding campaign for their first album via Japanese crowdfunding website Campfire on November 1, 2015.^[16] me-me* held their final concert on March 20, 2016.^[17] Currently she's part of the idol unit T♡Project with Hibiki Ōtsuki and Ruka Kanae.

On August 26, 2015, Taiwan's EasyCard Corporation announced that Hatano was to be featured on their public transport payment cards.^[18] The corporation stated that two collectible versions of the card, featuring a fully clothed Hatano, would be released: a "devil" edition, and an "angel" edition.^[19][20] EasyCard's decision to feature the AV idol drew criticism in Taiwan from parents and women's advocacy groups, who were concerned over the use of an adult film star's image.^[18] Additional controversy formed when it was discovered that one of the card's images was previously used as the cover of one of Hatano's adult films.^[21][22] EasyCard ended up going ahead with the sale of the metro cards, which sold out its entire run of 15,000 cards overnight.^[23]

In 2017, Hatano made a guest appearance on the Taiwanese public television program Guess Who (Chinese: 誰來晚餐, Who is Coming to Dinner?). She was invited to learn more about the Hand Angel (Chinese: 手天使) nonprofit, which provides sexual services for those who are physically disabled.^[24]

In gaming, Hatano has been the spokesperson for mobile games such as the Taiwanese RPG Shén guǐ huànxiǎng (Chinese: 神鬼幻想, God Ghost Fantasy) in 2014.^[25][26] She lent her voice and likeness to play a hostess in the remastered version of Yakuza 3 for the PlayStation 4. This was released in Japan on August 9, 2018.^[27][28]