Yamamoto ...before Pearl Harbor ?
:’) One of the top Japanese generals, maybe it was Yamamoto, said (after Pearl Harbor) that he feared that they had awakened a sleeping giant. Given the hideous treatment of captives (US, Chinese, etc) and occupied territories, had the US had more nukes and literally wiped Japan off the face of the Earth, the rest of the Orient would have spit on the bodies and cheered. By the time of the Hiroshima bomb, incendiary bombings had destroyed more than 40 Japanese cities. And even after the first Bomb, the Japanese didn’t surrender. Only after the Nagasaki bomb (and more incendiary bombings, if memory serves) did Hirohito inform his warlords that Japan would surrender. It took TWO nukes to convince him. Even then, a group of Japanese officers conspired to nab the Emperor at night, stop the prerecorded surrender broadcast from going out, and force Japan to fight on. Due to a US bomber run, electricity was shut down (precautionary measure), and the conspirators got lost in the dark of the palace. (’: