As East Asia 's connections with Europe and the Western world strengthened during the late 19th century , China 's power began to decline . U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry forced Japan to open up . After the 1860s , Japan modernized rapidly with the Meiji Restoration , transforming itself from an isolated feudal samurai state into East Asia 's first industrialized nation . By the early 1900s , the Japanese empire succeeded in asserting itself as East Asia 's first modern power . Japan defeated the stagnant Qing dynasty during the First Sino-Japanese War , thereafter annexing Korea and Taiwan from China . In 1905 Japan also vanquished its imperial rival Russia in the Russo-Japanese War . It was the first major military victory in the modern era of an East Asian power over a European one and shocked the West . In prelude to WW2 , Japan launched an invasion of mainland China in the Second Sino-Japanese War . It annexed Manchuria and absorbed more and more of the eastern coast , committing atrocities like Unit 731 and Nanjing Massacre along the way
Unit 731
Unit 731
East Asia