Question

What social and political change does Japan make in order to make up for a lack of natural resources

Answer 1

With the end of the feudal Tokugawan era, Japan finally kicked themselves into gear with the Meiji Restoration - which made up for lack of resources (given that Japan is just a little island) by having rapid industrialization and modernization. They had new shipyards, iron smelts, and copied Western methods of mass-production. A new industry-based society was born.
Politically/Socially, the Shogunate ended, and Japan's social hierarchy became more like the West. More democratic and less feudal.