What sparked the beginning of Japan's nationalism and arises as an imperial power

When we talk about Japanese nationalism we can trace back to the Meiji period beginning in 1868 until 1912. This was the critical period for consolidating first the unification of a blend of the original political philosophical basis with the culture and traditions in order to promote a particular form of unity and patriotism. We can say that the influence and later intervention of Western powers that originally was solely based on economic trade as the main interest, later became the pillar where Japanese nationalism had to defend against the colonization.

Japanese nationalism was an instrument to boost its power over the Pacific and Asian continent and it became clear that is struggled to obtain equal acknowledgement with its capacity later on as a great power.

Later on, Japan sought actively it interest overseas with an expansionist politic targeted in achieving supremacy with a crisis when it had to deal with the WWII that lost in 1945.