The Japanese knew they were finished by the end of February 1944. The reason that they did not surrender was the uncertainty of being allowed to keep the Imperial dynasty. Hirohito himself was the one to hold out (guess he didn't want to lose his job). He held out even when the bombing intensified and even after the first A-bomb was dropped. He encouraged and demanded that his subject sacrifice their lives for the Imperial Dynasty, first starting with the battle of Okinawa, then demand they do the same if the U.S. attacked the mainland.

There was no good guys, vs bad guys in this tragic debacle of conditional/unconditional surrender. It was all about personal preservation (Hirohito) and revenge (allies)

BTW ... as I previously mentioned the Japanese went to war quite well knowing that in the long run they would more than likely lose. Hirohito was very well aware of it.

biLL