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Japan set its sights on China, Korea and other countries in Southeast Asia as a result of a critical lack of resources. Japan needed these resources to continue its rapid industrialization and development. After conquering some of the territories of these nations, it started contesting Russia's far-eastern territory and eventually began to invade eastern Mongolia.
Japan turned to a government form that was very similar to Fascism as a result of the Great Depression. Although this unique style of government was very similar to Fascism, there were many significant differences between the two and has therefore been termed Japanese nationalism.
Unlike the regimes of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, Japan had two economic goals in developing an empire. First, Japan's tightly controlled domestic military industry jump-started the nation's economy in the midst of the depression. Japan was forced to import raw materials such as iron, oil, and coal to maintain strong growth in the industrial sector due to the lack of natural resources on Japan's home islands. Most of these raw materials came from the United States. As a result of this military-industrial development scheme and the industrial growth of Japan, mercantilist theories prevailed. The Japanese felt that resource-rich colonies were needed to compete with European powers. Korea (1910) and Formosa (Taiwan 1895) had earlier been annexed primarily as agricultural colonies. In addition to Korea and Formosa, Japan primarily targeted Manchuria's iron and coal, Indochina's rubber, and China's agricultural resources.[/b]