What reason does hillenbrand give for japan's plans to conquer new land?

Regardless of how bombastic or haughty Imperial Japan was, I don't think their craving was to vanquish the world. Their aspirations were basically focused on the mineral-rich conditions of Asia, and parts of China.

As a general rule, when they involved China amid WW2, there were still extensive swathes of land immaculate and inaccessible by their militaries, that is the reason Mao Zedong could "rest" in the mountains of Yunnan and still get into encounters with the Kuomintang while battling the Japanese (talk about performing various tasks)

Imperial Japan confronted indistinguishable issues with China from Nazi Germany did with the Soviet Union amid WW2. Both Russia and China were too darn BIG!