In 1868 the Tokygwa era found an end due to the Meiji Restoration. The Emperor Meiji became the head and his imperial power was restored. During this era, Meiji's political and military power was close to being absolute. At this time, much like other Asian nations, the Japanese were forced to sign treaties with western countries. Most of these treaties were unfair and unequal for the Japanese. Because of these treaties, Japan was under an economical and legal disadvantage. Mieji Japan was determined to gain westerners respect and wanted to close the hole economically and militarily. It was this determination that was the cause of drastic reforms and lead the country to become an imperialistic nation while the whole time fighting off the imperialistic nations.
The new government aimed to make Japan a state focused on equality among its people. The social classes of the previous Tokugawa era were broken down over time as well as the samurai loosing most of their privileges. The Meiji government also forced the return of all former feudal lords" land back to the emperor in order to stabilize the government and divide it into prefectures. After the intense westernization took place the country had to catch up militaristically. This, being a high priority for Japan, the government introduced a universal conscription of a new army and navy. The Japanese modeled their army after the Prussian army and the navy after the British army in order to successfully build their military in a way which they already know works. .
Japan quickly transitioned to a modern power from a medieval power and turned itself into an imperial country. In 1894-95 Japan was in competition with China for markets in Korea. This being a main cause of the Sino-Japanese War there is also the underlying cause of China sending troops to Korea without notice to the Japanese government. At this time both Japanese and Chinese forces were in Korea due to disorders in Korea.