Was diplomacy an alternative to bombing japan?

Answer 1

in actual fact, the Japanese, through the Soviet Union, tried to conditionally surrender in June 1945, a full 2 months before the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. the condition they wanted was that the emperor was to remain head of state and to retain its home islands. America flatly refused the offer and instead chose to continue the war a further two months, until Japan unconditionally surrendered. an interesting footnote should be that upon signing the unconditional surrender japan was allowed to retain its emperor and retain its home islands.

so to answer your question, yes, diplomacy was an alternative from the Japanese point of view but not the Americans, whom already had the agenda to set the stage for a showdown with the soviet union namely, the cold war, and needed to show the soviets they had the nuclear weapon capable of mass destruction.

did i say weapon of mass destruction, heard that somewhere before.