And Japan was eager to take every opportunity . In 1869 they took advantage of the defeat of the rebels of the Republic of Ezo to incorporate definitely the island of Hokkaido to Japan . For centuries , Japan viewed the Ryukyu Islands as one of its provinces . In 1871 the Mudan incident happened : cannibal Taiwanese aborigines murdered 54 Ryūkyūan sailors that had their ship shipwrecked . At that time the Ryukyu Islands were claimed by both Qing China and Japan , and the Japanese interpreted the incident as an attack on their citizens . They took steps to bring the islands in their jurisdiction : in 1872 the Japanese Ryukyu Domain was declared , and in 1874 a retaliatory incursion to Taiwan was sent , which was a success . The success of this expedition emboldened the Japanese : not even the Americans could defeat the Taiwanese cannibals in the Formosa Expedition of 1867 . Very few gave it much thought at the time , but this was the first move in the Japanese expansionism series . Japan occupied Taiwan for the rest of 1874 and then left owing to Chinese pressures , but in 1879 it finally annexed the Ryukyu Islands . In 1875 Qing China sent a 300-men force to subdue the Taiwanese cannibals , but unlike the Japanese the Chinese were routed , ambushed and 250 of their men were killed ; the failure of this expedition exposed once more the failure of Qing China to exert effective control in Taiwan , and acted as another incentive for the Japanese to annex Taiwan . Eventually , the spoils for winning the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894 included Taiwan
Mudan incident
Mudan incident
Imperialism