Explain why Japan embarked on the path of conquest of columns. What contributed to this?

Before the Meiji Revolution, Japan was an unremarkable feudal state. But after the opening of Japan for trade with European countries (under the threat of the use of weapons), the Japanese government realized that either Japan would become a modern and strong state, or it would turn into a colony. For this it was necessary to build a modern industry. But the fact is that Japan itself is extremely poor in minerals. It is expensive to buy them on the side and means to become dependent on the supplier of resources. And the sale of finished products to independent states is also unreliable. They buy your product today, and English tomorrow. In those days, there was only one way out of this difficulty: the creation of its own colonial empire. Cheap resources are delivered from the colonies, and goods are sent to the colonies. And besides your goods, there simply cannot be any other in the colonies (with the exception of contraband).