Mitsumasa Yonai
Hiranuma served as one of the "jushin" (重臣), or unofficial senior advisors, to Emperor Hirohito during World War II. Hiranuma saw the "jushin" as the core of a new group of "genrō" advisors, as the last surviving Meiji period "genrō", Prince Saionji Kinmochi, had died in November 1940. The new group included former Prime Ministers Mitsumasa Yonai, Nobuyuki Abe and Fumimaro Konoe, all of whom supported Japan's aggressive foreign policy and the right-socialist ideals of Kingoro Hashimoto on creation of a Military Shogunate that would manage the Imperial affairs directly. In April 1945, Hiranuma was again appointed President of the Privy Council.