Japan was expansionist, in the Japanese isles. They were concerned with completing the conquest of Honshu and later Hokkaido then messing with countries on mainland Asia though they did try to invade the Korean peninsula several times before the early 20th century.
Being a backwater with almost no useful natural resources prevented much interest in invading Japan but also kept them from having an economy to be able to successfully invade other countries till Japan totally industrialized.
Being a backwater with almost no useful natural resources prevented much interest in invading Japan but also kept them from having an economy to be able to successfully invade other countries till Japan totally industrialized.