In the years prior to world war 2 japan underwent rearmament and policy expansion setting its sights on who

In the years prior to World War II, Japan underwent rearmament and undertook a policy of expansion, setting its sights on Korea and China. The Japanese mainland is very resource-poor and thus an industrializing Japan required raw materials from abroad. As it became more difficult to maintain trade for those materials, the Japanese government took to imperialism, invading Korea and China in an effort to simply take control of their materials.