..Operation Downfall would have been such a nightmare, the magnitude of which most people cannot even imagine. Thank the Lord for the Enola Gay and Bockscar. The bombs saved hundreds of thousands—on both sides...
Not only that, but Japan would have been divided, like Korea, with the likely outcome a Civil War between the Communists and Allies.
Read “Downfall, the End of the Imperial Japanese Empire” by Richard Frank. It’s a very detailed account of the last battles and the infighting in the Japanese government. Good book.