In December 1871 , a Ryukyuan ship was shipwrecked on Taiwan and the crew were massacred . In 1874 , using the incident as a pretext , Japan launched a military expedition to Taiwan to assert their claims to the Ryukyu Islands . The expedition featured the first instance of the Japanese military ignoring the orders of the civilian government , as the expedition set sail after being ordered to postpone
were massacred
Mudan incident
History of Japan