The Real Reason America Used Nukes Against Japan

[joshcryer]

7. The Japanese diplomats that wanted to surrender didn't have clout.

And had they openly stated that they wanted to surrender they would've been in deep shit. The diplomats that wanted to surrender made that known clandestinely. This analysis also ignores Japan's cultural concept of "kokutai."

I think this discussion would benefit from my clarifying that I am talking about unconditional surrender here. Not conditional surrender. I think it is well known that they would've surrendered if the Empire maintained power (and its territories), without question. I do not think that a reality exists where the USA would've accepted anything but an unconditional surrender and the end of the Japanese Empire, which is why I think that the fighting would've continued on and the fire bombings would've persisted for months.

There is absolutely plenty of evidence for a conditional surrender, particularly the scenario where the Japanese Empire is allowed to stand.