Hiyama received his Bachelor of Engineering (1969) and Master of Engineering (1971) from Kyoto University. He dropped out of the doctorate track in 1972, and subsequently started working as an assistant for Hitoshi Nozaki at Kyoto University. In 1975, he obtained his doctoral degree, and during 1975-1976 conducted postdoctoral research with Yoshito Kishi at Harvard University. In 1981, he started working at the Sagami Chemical Research Center, and became a principal investigator in 1983, and then chief laboratory manager in 1988.
In 1992, he re-entered the world of academia at the Tokyo Institute of Technology as a professor of the Research Laboratory of Resources Utilization. He then returned to Kyoto University in 1997 as a professor of engineering, until 2010 when he transferred to Chuo University, where he currently holds tenure.
His current research focuses on C-H activation and cross-coupling reactions. In particular, he is interested in ortho and benzylic C-H activation, and C-C, C-N, and C-Si bond formation via cross-coupling with organosilicon reagents.
In his spare time, he enjoys listening to classical music. His favorite way of spending a holiday is “cleaning [his] small garden by picking out weeds one by one”, which is “good psychological training for a Buddhist priest”.