that is a non sequitor.....emporer was a non issue and is a red herring. The military cliques were running the show. Not until the Emporer read the damage reports did he overrule the miliatry leaders. He embraced Ketsu Go as well as numerous attrocities.
Japan’s pride and arrogance caught up to them. After years of slaughter, fanatical resistance.
READ KETSU-GO !!!!
The emperor was very much an issue. To New Deal hardliners, he (and all he represented) the main source of the problem and had to be totally destroyed. If it was really a “non-issue” the U.S. would have agreed at the outset to a conditional surrender.