What were the negative and positiveeffects of imperialism on Japan?
Japan was largely unaffected by European imperialism. For centuries they maintained a very isolationist policy and had almost no contact with the opposite world. They never came under the rule of any Western power. Beginning in the 1800’s though they, of their own accord, began allowing in Western ideas and seeking to modernize their economy and, to some extent, westernize their society. This eventually led them to adopt an imperialist policy of their own. They conquered Korea in the early 20th century and then in the 1930’s invaded China. They had plans for a vast empire covering most of east Asia and the Pacific Ocean. In 1941 they tried to make good on this by attacking the United States, England and other European countries in Asia and the Pacific as part of the Second World War. As a result of this their economy was utterly destroyed and vast stretches of the country were reduced to rubble and they spent many years under American military occupation.
