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extra=15 January 1899 – 6 February 1990 was a Japanese Far right (uyoku) politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives of Japan during World War II.
Akao was cofounder and first president of the Kenkokukai and became one of the leading ultranationalists in Japan during the 1920s. 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. Akao founded and became the first president of the far-right Greater Japan Patriotic Party in 1951 and continued to adamantly champion Pro-Americanism and anti-communist stances in post-war Japan.
On the farm, Akao sought to create a utopian society by implementing a primitive form of Agrarianism communism based on the ideals of the "New Village Movement" advocated by poet-philosopher Saneatsu Mushanokōji. In particular, the produce of the farm was distributed in equal shares to all workers on the farm, regardless of class or social standing. However, Akao's neighbors on the island felt threatened by his practices, and managed to swindle the farm from him through legalistic maneuvers. 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 arrested and imprisoned for a speech critical of Japan's Emperor system after being conscripted into military service. While in prison, Akao became disillusioned with the left-wing movement in Japan and soon abandoned left-wing politics as a whole.
One consistent aspect of Akao's thought was his respect for the power of the United States, having opposed the Pacific War from a nationalist perspective on the grounds that the United States was too powerful for Japan and therefore that fighting a war with it was foolhardy.
In the 1942 election, Akao ran for the Tokyo 6th district seat in the National Diet as a "non-recommended candidate," meaning he was not recommended by the single national political party, the Imperial Rule Assistance Association (IRAA). Nevertheless, Akao won the election and received the second most votes in Tokyo and the fourth most votes of anyone in Japan. 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 Hideki Tojo in June 1943.
In 1960, during the Anpo Protests against the Anpo, Akao became convinced that Japan was on the verge of a communist revolution and sought to rally right-wing groups to engage in counter-protests. Both Otoya Yamaguchi, who assassinated Inejirō Asanuma, and Kazutaka Komori, who perpetrated the Shimanaka Incident, were 17-year-old members of the GJPP who resigned from the party shortly before committing their violent attacks, leading many people to speculate that Akao had ordered both attacks. 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.
In 1989, following the death of emperor Hirohito, Akao ran for a seat in the House of Councillors for a 15th time, at the age of 90. Akao died of heart failure on February 6, 1990, at the age of 91, in Toshima, Tokyo.
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