Why did the Japanese not surrender after Hiroshima?

Answer 1

Not Enough TimeThey didn't give them a chance to. The Americans dropped the first one on Hiroshima. Then they dropped the other one a few days later on Nagasaki just for good measure.

Three days wasn't enough time because shortly after the first atomic bombing, Manchuria was invaded by the Russians. Manchuria was Japan's line of communications to the Allies. This prevented the Japanese from communicating with the US until after the bomb was dropped. Little known fact, Stalin was making contact with the Japanese well before this for the Japanese to conditionally surrender, although Stalin kept this hidden from the other Allies. And when the bomb had gone off in Hiroshima, there was no one there(obviously) to let the Japanese government know. Japan's government officials were under the opinion that it was just some heavy duty bombing at first, and when they later heard it was an atomic bomb, asked their team of scientists who were working on their own bomb if it was possible if the Americans had more than one. The team claimed they didn't, but the Japanese still debated amongst themselves if they should surrender under the American's terms of surrender(which were unconditional). If you are referring to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, there are several reasons for Japan's continued resistance after its devastation of that city.

First: Some Japanese leaders suspected the bomb might have been a one-time trick. By continuing resistance, they were "calling our bluff," or so they thought.

Second: The Japanese believed that they could negotiate a favorable armistice with the Allies using the Soviet Union as a third party. When the USSR declared war on Japan on August 8, this went out the window and Japan had nowhere left to turn.

Third (tying back in with #1): The Japanese needed proof that the United States had or was building up a nuclear arsenal for use on them. When the second bomb obliterated Nagasaki, it became apparent that the US would not invade and incur massive casualties but "just keep dropping atomic bombs." To the Japanese General Staff, the bombs represented the ultimate American trump card against their plans for a "decisive battle:" rather than negotiating with the Americans after the latter suffered huge losses in the Home Islands, the US would bomb Japan into submission at no cost to themselves.

Answer 2

They never got the chance because the die was cast in the plan to drop the second bomb. Truman made sure of this.

Answer

The Japanese had no intention of surrending, they lived by a code that stated they would rather die than lose honor. Now, the American government would not have ignored a direct message of immediate surrender from the Japanese. though the question still stands at if the government had any true time to asses the destruction that had occurred from the first bomb.

Answer

The situation in Japan was not simple, and nothing could be done in as short a time as three days.

Consider the time line:

• Some time before the atomic bomb was dropped, the Japanese government was already trying to negotiate a conditional surrender through the USSR. Stalin did not want the other Allies to know about this and so the USSR never passed that information on, but the Japanese did not know that.
• On July 26, the Allies made a declaration from Potsdam, saying that they would accept nothing less than an unconditional surrender. This sent the Japanese government into an internal debate, in which most people were strongly against surrender.
• When the bomb was dropped on August 6, the news did not reach the government instantly. Communications around the Hiroshima area were destroyed, and at first no one understood that this meant anything other than common wartime destruction of some infrastructure. When news came that there was an atom bomb, many people in government did not believe it. The people working on an atom bomb for Japan were asked, and they said they thought the United States would not have the ability to deliver a second bomb.
• The USSR invaded Manchuria and Japanese territory on August 8. This meant that they had lost the line of communication they had been using to the Allies.
• On August 9, Nagasaki was bombed.
• Later in the day, on August 9, the government of Japan debated surrender. Many people were against it. An Imperial conference on surrender started just before midnight of that day. The emperor sanctioned surrender on Allied terms at that conference.
• The government ended the debate on August 10 by deciding that they could surrender, provided that the emperor be allowed to remain as the head of the government. This, of course, was not the unconditional surrender the Allies had demanded.
• On August 12, a coup was attempted to prevent surrender. It was finally suppressed on August 15.
• The emperor announced Japan would surrender unconditionally on August 15. Shortly after that, Japanese airmen gathered to run a kamikaze raid on the Missouri when it entered Tokyo harbor; this raid was only barely prevented.

There is a link below to an article on the Japanese surrender.

Answer

Let it be said that I agree with the above responses. Additionally, I would like to note that there was a time delay between the detonation at Hiroshima and that at Nagasaki. General Marshall has admitted that they did not take into account that 'the destruction would be so complete that it would be an appreciable time before the actual facts of the case would get to Tokyo', adding that restoration of communication may have taken longer than a day. According to historian Ronald Takaki, Emperor Hirohito was already willing to surrender upon hearing of Hiroshima; this was on August 8 (Hiroshima was August 6). He was, however, blocked by what Takaki calls 'an extremist faction'; thus the matter was delayed until August 9, also the day that the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

Answer 3

Japan was willing to fight to the last woman and child for their Emperor and they only surrendered after the bombing of Nagasaki because they were allowed to keep him as Empereor.

Japans culture is all about honour and to surrender would have been considered cowardly especially as they were gambling on the fact that America had used the only A bomb they had,Which as we know was a bad call

Answer 4

They did surrender after the two atomic bombs. On August 6, a b-29 bomber named Enola Gay released an atomic bomb, codenamed Little Boy, over Hiroshima, an important Japanese military center. Forty-Three seconds later, almost every building in the city collapsed into dust from the force of the blast. Hiroshima had ceased to exist. Still, Japan's leaders hesitated to surrender. Three days later a second bomb, codenamed Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki, leveling half the city. By the end of the year, an estimated 200,000 people had died as a result of injuries and radiation poisoning caused by the atomic blasts. Emperor Hirohito was horrified by the destruction wrought by the bomb. "I cannot bear to se4ee my innocent people suffer any longer," he told Japan's leaders tearfully. Then he ordered them to draw up papers "to end the war." On September 2, formal surrender ceremonies took place on the U.S. battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. "Today the guns are silent," said General MacArthur in a speech marking this historic moment" The skies no longer rain death--the seas bear only commerce--men everywhere walk upright in the sunlight. The entire world is quietly at peace." The United States was actually merciful because those two cities weren't that populated. We could of dropped them over heavily populated ares such as Tokyo but they said why kill that many innocent people when we can get our point across just bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Answer 5

Hiroshima got attacked, because it was the last way to end WW2. japan refused all of the U.S's treaties for them, so we used atomic bombs on the city; along with Nagasaki. after the bombings, Japan realized what we could do so they surrendered, signed the peace treaty and the war ended.

Answer 6

They had no idea what happened as all communication with Hiroshima was suddenly broken and they had to send people to determine that, which took time. Also the military was still not prepared to surrender even after the second bomb, the Emperor literally had to order them to!

Answer 7

Ever Take A Hit With A Nuke ? Who Was Left To Fight Back. The City Was Almost Wiped From The Earth.

Answer 8

Breakdown in government, poor communications, disbelief

Answer 9

Japan thought it was undignified to surrender, so it would take longer for them to surrender

This is from a 12 yr old