Tibbets was more a hero to the Japanese than anyone else. Operation Starvation was was in full force at the time. Had not the U.S. fed the Japanese beginning in August of ‘45, it’s estimated that 8 million Japanese would have starved in 1945 alone. Those civilians would have died even if no actual invasion had occurred.
Most people do not realize that absolute fact. There was no transportation in Japan by 1945.. The rice harvest would not have been distributed.