That is quite correct, Peter, in a few rare cases. Germany under Hitler's leadership would not have been willing to negotiate any kind of conditional surrender even if the Allies had offered to. Hitler himself was the problem in that case, and that's why some of his own people tried to kill him (on several occasions). Yes, when the leader is mad then the usual rules of engagement cannot be applied.

This was not the case at all in the case of Japan. They were not mad. They were proud, fatalistic, and motivated by national self-interest (as is everyone), but they were quite capable of rational thought and decision-making if it was required. They knew perfectly well that the war was unwinnable after the battles at Leyte Gulf in '44.

Hitler, I'm afraid, had pretty well lost all capacity for rational thought by 1945. He was moving phantom armies around on the map in his bunker and was totally unhinged.