Until this battle most Japanese civilians and many of their military didn’t even know how bad the war was going. Almost every news report in Japan until then was of their “victories.” First time many Japanese heard how bad things were going was their schoolchildren singing songs on the radio in support of their “brave defenders” on Okinawa. Had many people in Japan wondering what else they were lied to about for the first time.
Propaganda was so strict in Japan that every sailor who knew what happened at The Battle of Midway ( the loss of the 4 carriers ) was banned from ever returning to Japan until the end of the war. Wounded from that battle who had to be taken back to Japan were in their own hospital ward and restricted to base, not getting out until the war ended. Just talking about the defeat could mean death.
Near constant bombing of Japan started in November 1944 with the fall of Saipan and Tinian to the USA. The first B-29 targets were industrial factories in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya mainly. High altitude precision bombing was not effective, but Japanese citizens in large cities certainly knew things were starting to go badly
Things turned much worse for urban Japanese starting in February 1945 when Curtis LeMay began low-level (more accurate), concentrated firebombing of major Japanese cities. In the most devastating firebombing raid of March 9-10, 16 square KM of Tokyo was destroyed, and 100,000 killed. The average Japanese in major cities certainly knew from experience at that point they were in deep trouble.