Les - There was no chance of Japan getting anywhere with an atomic project in the war years. They hadn't even begun such a project by 1945, and it took a massive effort at that time and several years to complete such a project. Only the USA and Germany really had the potential to do it, as far as I can see. In the case of Germany, Hitler wasn't interested in the concept for some reason, so it got little encouragement from the top. In addition to that it appears that some of the key German nuclear scientists may have quietly and deliberately steered the project off in unproductive directions, due to their desire to avoid producing an atomic bomb. Many of the Allied scientists were also morally opposed to using the Bomb, and argued stronly for not doing so. Edward Teller was a notable exception to that attitude, and he went on to champion the much more terrible H-bomb in the 1950's. I get the impression that if Teller could have come up with a bomb capable of instantly destroying half the World he would have been delighted.