Akao was elected to the House of Representatives as an independent in 1942 and espoused a unique type of Japanese nationalism characterized by support for the United States and opposition to the Pacific War.

On the farm, Akao sought to create a utopian society by implementing a primitive form of agrarian communism based on the ideals of the "New Village Movement" advocated by poet-philosopher Saneatsu Mushanokōji.

Disillusioned by the failure of his experiments with communism, Akao returned to the mainland and settled in Tokyo, where he began to dabble in socialism under the influence of Toshihiko Sakai, Hitoshi Yamakawa, Sakae Osugi, and Motoyuki Takabatake.

Akao was a close associate of legal scholar Uesugi Shinkichi, who allowed him to run the Kenkokukai from his home after the withdrawal of several prominent members left the organization without the means to fund their headquarters.

Like other independent candidates, Akao was forced to join the Imperial Rule Assistance Political Association after winning his seat, but he was expelled from that organisation after publicly rebuking Prime Minister Tojo in June 1943.

[4] Akao was arrested for conspiracy to murder in the wake of the Shimanaka Incident, but was not indicted due to lack of evidence, and instead was sentenced to eight months in prison for the lesser charges of disturbing the peace and intimidation.

[5] Akao continued his activism and took to flying the American flag and the Union Jack on his noise trucks alongside the Hinomaru, and strongly supported the revised Security Treaty and the U.S.-Japan alliance.