Did Japan ever suffer from a shortage of natural resources before World War II?

Until the end of the nineteenth century, Japan raised its per capita income, starting from a low level, by exporting primary commodities and importing manufactured goods. Around the turn of the century, Japan became a net importer of natural resources. Yet it is doubtful that Japan ever suffered severely from a shortage of natural resources before the Manchurian Incident of 1931. It was the military expansion in the 1930s that created an artificial shortage of mineral resources, the wholesale exodus of population, and a lowering in the standard of living of the general public.