Why did Japan feel the need to control other nations?

Answer 1

The same reason why the English tried to control N.America, the Romans conquered all they could, and why Alexander the great conquered as much as he could. It's human nature to like what is theirs and wish everything were as they liked, and the easiest way to make sure everything is to one's liking is to rule over everything.

Answer 2

First, the Pacific Ocean is HUGE. It's pretty much the biggest singular thing on Earth barring a Hemisphere. It's so huge in fact that no one could cross it in a single go back in the first half of the 20th Century. So, if you wanted to be a major naval power in that ocean, you had to have relay islands where your fleets could refuel and resupply. Japan wanted to be a Naval Power, ergo, they needed islands to extend their Empire's reach.

Japan, however, was a resource poor country. So they had to expand into richer and richer territory, first Korea and then China. As their military/industrial capacity grew, they could take more and more islands and convert them into bases to relay their fleet. It was also useful to have these islands as a buffer against an enemy like the United States, which normally couldn't field aircraft capable of reaching the Japanese home islands without first taking several Pacific islands in a military strategy called "island-hopping".

Ultimately, like the guy at the bar who got his tab called in, the US cut off Japan's oil supply in an effort to stall Japanese aggression against China, a US ally. The Japanese Military ordered the Pearl Harbor Operation, which even the guy in charge of the attack said was a catastrophically stupid idea. He had been educated at Yale, and he knew America wasn't about to let an attack on its soil go unpunished. As it turned out, Japan didn't have enough of a buffer.

Answer 3

reason is that Japan thought they had to control other nations is because they wonted to rule as the largest country in the world, they wonted power.

Answer 4

the japanese wanted to take conrol of the lands they needed to produce oil and other goods

Answer 5

Because they wanted take control of the pacific lands.