Japan, as an island nation, has always been heavily constrained by lack of resources. Going into WWII, the nation imported 88 percent of its oil and was utterly dependent on raw material imports to sustain its industrial base. Unable to achieve self-sufficiency, and unwilling to capitulate, the Japanese had no alternative but to go to war and seize by force the resources they desperately required.

Japanese expansion in East Asia began in 1931 with the invasion of Manchuria and continued in 1937 with a brutal attack on China. On September 27, 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, thus entering the military alliance known as the "Axis." Seeking to curb Japanese aggression and force a withdrawal of Japanese forces from Manchuria and China, the United States imposed economic sanctions on Japan. Faced with severe shortages of oil and other natural resources and driven by the ambition to displace the United States as the dominant Pacific power, Japan decided to attack the United States and British forces in Asia and seize the resources of Southeast Asia.

The article discusses the expansion of the Japanese rule. 

The article discusses the Far East in the interwar period and analyzes why Japan was so eager to expand and why it opted to declare war on the U.S. when it attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. It discusses what brought Japan to its belief that it had no alternate recourse to save its honour but to declare war, in light of the declining international relations. Other topics include Japan's emergence to power, its desire for a co-prosperity sphere, and its allegiance to Germany and Italy.

This article focuses on the book "Japanese Expansion and American Policies," by James Francis Abbott. In dealing with the question of Japanese Imperial expansion it is imperative for everyone to know whether the Japanese people are essentially one, with no race division or social cleavage. Abbott differs with all the best authorities in supposing two alien races in Japan, one of which came "by way of the South, originating doubtless from India, and hence of Aryan origin," and goes on to say that "inherent racial prejudice has prevented intermarriage between this superior race and the inferior Mongolian element, which outnumbers the other, twenty to one, and constitutes the heimin or common people.

Mao is believed to have said that, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." Western companies setting up subsidiaries in China may, at times, wish to move fast, but they should appreciate the advisability of expanding carefully, if not step by step, then perhaps later rather than sooner. As these co-authors describe, haste often makes waste when expanding in China

The article focuses on the colonial expansion of Japan into the South China Sea from 1902 to 1939. It discusses the conflict emerged between Japanese authorities and Japanese businessmen depicting that economic exploitation precedes any sovereignty agreement among the parties. During the first two decades of the twentieth century, Japanese presence in the South China Sea seemed to be part of a greater process of its imperial expansion of social and economic forces. Japan engaged in colonizing its relatively weak neighboring countries, with reasons focusing on the protection of the freedom of the oceans under Japan's foreign policy.