While the Japanese constitution was being redrafted and the Japanese war criminals were under trial, there were a number of unusual senior staff changes in the Imperial Household Office (to be restructured as the Imperial Household Agency in 1949) between June and August 1948. In particular, two key imperial household officials in the early post-war period, Ogane Masujiro, the Grand Chamberlain, and Susumu Katō, Vice-Minister of Imperial Household, relinquished their offices. In the reshuffle, Hayashi succeeded Katō on 2 August 1948. By the time when he left the post in 1950, he had become a confidant of Emperor Showa, making him one of the few people who had the privilege to see and talk to the Emperor.