Did japan want to retain conquered lands under terms of surrenderer?

Answer 1

Absolutely they did. In WWII, Japan was well on their way to conquering half of the world. That is until they bombed Pearl Harbor. As the war drew to a close and an invasion of mainland Japan seemed imminent to its leaders, they made treaties with The Soviet Union to retain conquered lands in Manchuria and Korea. Then three things happened in short order that removed all hope of retaining any new real estate:

1. The United States dropped an atomic bomb on the industrial city of Hiroshima.

2. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan, violating their treaty and subsequently invaded land in Asia (with the support of the Red Chinese and Koreans) removing all hope of any post-war land-gain retention.

3. The US dropped a second a-bomb on Nagasaki - another essential city to Japan's war effort.

Immediately following these three devastating blows to Japan, the Emperor and his Big Six War Council agreed to unconditional surrender - giving up every piece of land conquered during the war along with many other concessions. Organized Japanese resistance ceased by late 1945.

Unofficially, Japanese soldiers on many of the Pacific Isles, such as Iwo Jima, continued to fight, either for pride, spirit, dedication...or some, due to the destruction of Japan's navy and ability to communicate, did not even know the war had ended.

Though the war officially ended and organized resistance on Iwo ceased in 1945, the last soldier found on Iwo did not surrender until 1949...and it is said that the final marooned Japanese soldiers (on other islands) did not give up until the 1970s.