Following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S., Tanonaka asked to be released from his CNN contract and returned to Hawaii to make an attempt at public service.

In 2002, he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii, finishing second behind former Circuit Court judge Duke Aiona.

[3] Following a brief period as president of the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC) based in Honolulu, Tanonaka ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 2004.

Tanonaka cooperated with authorities, but after agreeing to plead guilty to technical violations, U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor ordered him to spend 90 days in the Honolulu Federal Detention Center to "send a message" to the public.

Winners were handed cash grants and received living stipends in cities such as Yogyakarta, Lampung, and Jakarta, the most recent in June 2013.

In December 2006, he was the co-creator of the "Beat The Bird Flu Concert" in Jakarta, Indonesia, to spotlight prevention measures of the deadly virus.

An ongoing environmental disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java prompted Tanonaka and friend Ron Mullers to hold a fund-raising event in 2007 for victims of an unstoppable mudflow that wiped out homes and businesses.

[11] Tanonaka and Mullers led a community drive to erect a statue of a young Barack Obama in a park near the U.S. president's childhood home in Jakarta, Indonesia.