ABSTRACT
Japan built a large empire before World War II consisting of Taiwan, Korea, and eventually Manchuria, the eastern parts of China and islands in the central Pacific. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese expanded their empire to include much of Southeast Asia. Japan’s empire began with the takeover of the Ryukku Islands in the 1870s from China. Japan’s encounter with the rest of Asia came at a time when loyalty to the nation and nationalist ideologies became very powerful worldwide. Strong nationalism had the tendency to distinguish those who belonged to the nation from those who were perceived to not belong. The first place where Japanese officials had the opportunity to implement imperial policies was the new colony of Taiwan, received from China after Japan won the Sino-Japanese war in 1895. The Japanese used the example of European imperialism to develop colonial theories and justify their own colonialism in Taiwan and elsewhere.
