As one of the leaders of a group of Japanese officers determined to prevent the acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration and therefore the surrender of Japan, Hatanaka attempted a coup d'état on 14–15 August 1945.
Kenji Miyazawa | Kenji Doihara | Kenji Ito | Kenji Sawada | Kenji Yoshino | Kenji Yamaoka | Kenji Ozawa | Kenji Osawa | Kenji Ogiwara | Kenji Nomura | Kenji Kosaka | Kenji Kodama | Kenji Kawakami | Kenji Kamiyama | Kenji Hatanaka | Kenji Haga |
Along with Major Kenji Hatanaka and a few others, he was one of the chief conspirators in a plot to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki; they wished to see the institution of martial law under War Minister Korechika Anami.