If your term are just stop killing us and let us keep our emperor, then evidently pretty hard.
The American dual policies of unconditional surrender and no separate peace are what made negotiating with Japan impossible. We were trying to keep the Soviets and the British from making a separate peace with Germany, which both were willing to do at various points during the war. How would it have looked if we had entertained the idea of a separate peace with Japan? Japan did make serious peace offers. In 1945 they offered complete unconditional surrender except for keeping the Emperor. We instead used the atomic bombs on them, then gave them exactly what they had asked for.
I have no sympathy for the Japanese military government, but it wasn't necessary to use nuclear weapons to get them to surrender. I believe that decision had more to do with Truman wanting to spook the Soviets.
Togo wanted to surrender? Hmmmm....
It’s been a while since I read John Toland’s pro-Japanese (and Pulitizer prize winning) book about their war, but I don’t recall him mentioning that.