Makoto Hirayama

is a Japanese politician. He served in the House of Councillors in the Diet (national legislature) from 2009 until 2013.

Political career Hirayama contested the 2007 House of Councillors election as a member of New Party Nippon but failed to win a seat, finishing third in the party's national proportional representation block behind Yasuo Tanaka, the party's only successful candidate, and Yoshifu Arita. In August 2009 Tanaka nominated as a candidate for the Hyogo No.8 District of the House of Representatives in the 2009 general election. Tanaka's nomination meant he automatically forfeited his House of Councillors seat. On 22 August the House committee determined that Arita was his replacement, but he too declined the House of Councillors seat on the basis of wanting to contest the House of Representatives election. On 30 August Hirayama was declared the official replacement to the House of Councillors seat.

Hirayama, who had resigned from the position of secretary-general of the party in May to start his own business, remained eligible because he had not resigned his membership from the party. Under the open list system used to elect members to the proportional representation block, Hirayama inherited the 618,025 ballots cast for Tanaka and Arita as well as the 1.1 million votes cast in the party's name (under the system, a voter can vote for an individual candidate or the party as a whole). Therefore, Hirayama was elected to the House despite personally receiving only 11,475 the lowest number for a successful candidate in the history of the House. In the initial voting he placed 115th out of the 159 candidates competing for 48 seats.