Is the japanese in world war II a continuation of imperialism?

The short answer is yes.





The Meiji restoration of 1868 was based upon one founding principle, to modernize on a western model as quickly as possible to avoid being colonized by the western powers. Unfortunately one of the key tenets of modernization at the time was imperialism, Japans early imperial conquests between 1895-1910 met with whole hearted support from the western powers.





It wasn%26#039;t until after WWI that the western powers began to take a different approach to colonialism, one which the Japanese as a late comer to the party felt was unfair.
Is the japanese in world war II a continuation of imperialism?
If you mean was Japan imperialist during the 1940s, then YES.





Japan had been an imperialist nation arguably since 1894, when they fought the First Sino-Japanese War over control of Korea. After defeating the Chinese, a puppet government was set up in Korea, and Japan took control of parts of Manchuria and Taiwan.





10 years later, the Japanese went to War with Russia over influence in Korea, this led to Japan annexing Korea out-right in 1910 and capturing Sakhalin Island from the Russian empire.





During World War 1, Japan declared war on Germany, allowing them to annex German territories in Asia, and the Pacific and almost led to full conquest of main land China.





Huge economic growth, led to Japan needing raw materials from abroad leading to the liberation of Manchuria and the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo, with the backing of the Emperor of China, against revolutionary China.





The Second Sino-Japanese war started in 1937, ended with the establishment of the Wang Jingwei Government, a puppet government that ruled annexed Chinese territories.





The Second World War saw the greatest imperialist successes of the Japanese Empire, annexing Hong Kong, British Malaya, Indochina, Burma, Thailand and the Philippines.





The development of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, (ei. the Japanese Empire) during WW2 was a continuation of imperialism, that had been progressing with few challenges for over half a century.