https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volunteer_Fighting_Corps "Some 28 million men and women were considered "combat capable" by the end of June 1945, yet only about 2 million of them had been recruited by the time the war ended, and most of them did not experience combat due to Japan's surrender before the Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands. The Battle of Okinawa took place before the formation of Volunteer Fighting Corps.[3] At this stage of the war, the lack of modern weaponry and ammunition meant that most were armed with swords or even bamboo spears." + Suicide bomber. Now I am truly done with this discussion.
Yeah, 28 million were "combat capable" but only 2 million were recruited. The morale must have been really high.
This part is wrong. When they decided to surrender, and this was AFTER the bombs mind you, they used Sweden as the mediator, which they could have done at any time but did not because they still thought they had a chance (which they didn't but then fanatics always think they have a chance). Did you read the Kyūjō incident that I linked? Even on the verge of surrendering, there were people trying to sabotage it by planning to launch attacks on American convoys. And your comment on the workers is EXACTLY the point I was making earlier about assuming a split between the people and the military, you are looking at it from 21st century Western eyes, their society does NOT function like you think it does, they are not that liberal. Do you know how the drop point of the Nagasaki attack was calculated? It was the mid point between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works and the Nagasaki Arsenal. Those are not harmless targets but factories producing material for the war. Manned by workers and civilians. In a total war, even civilians contribute to the war effort. Something our consistent COIN ops has overshadowed in understanding. Even civilians and workers made guns, bombs and explosives that were to be fired at the Allies. It was only after WWII that "Industrial Warfare" lost traction as a strategy and that was only because of lack of effectiveness and not a moral stand.
Japan were already negotiating with the Soviet Union a month before the first bomb was dropped. The Soviets deliberately strung them along to achieve their own goals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan#Attempts_to_deal_with_the_Soviet_Union Yes, there were still hardliners even in the final days of the war. That doesn't mean the rest of Japan wasn't willing to surrender.