Akiyama served his midshipman tour on the "Hiei" and cruiser . On commissioning as an ensign on 23 May 1892, he rose through the ranks in a variety of routine shipboard assignments and duties that included deployments throughout the Pacific Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and European waters. He was assigned to the "Ryūjō". He subsequently served on the , , (during the Battle of Weihaiwei in the First Sino-Japanese War), and . Following the hostilities he served a tour at the Imperial Navy's Torpedo school and then was assigned to naval intelligence, where he spent several months posing as a laborer and conducting missions in Manchuria and Korea.