 Her next career move saw her return to the automotive sector as operating officer of Nissan, followed by her appointment as president of Tokyo Nissan Auto Sales in June 2008.Hayashi was elected as the 30th mayor (the 20th individual) of Yokohama on August 30, 2009, following the sudden resignation of former mayor Hiroshi Nakada.She received 910,297 votes, about 35,000 more than that of the second candidate.