How did the mukden incident advance japanese imperialism?

The Mukden Incident gave justification for the latter Japanese actions in Manchuria and its conquering.

The Mukden Incident, also known as the Manchurian Incident, is a staged attack on Japanese business in China. The staged act was setting an explosive next to a Japanese owned railway in Manchuria. The explosion was very weak, and didn't even caused any damage to the railway, it was more like an explosion of a bigger firecracker.

The Japanese though, stages this with a purpose of having an excuse to attack China, and so they did. The Japanese officials blamed China for the ''attack'', so as a response the Japanese attacked Manchuria and managed to conquer it as they planned.