Well, it looks like you already found it based on your edit there, but just to reiterate, "Embracing Defeat" was the immediate book that came to mind when I saw this question. There really isn't a better work out there than Dower for an overall coverage of this period in Japanese history, so it is absolutely what you should be seeking out. Aside from that endorsement, I would also encourage you to check out "Wages of Guilt" by Ian Buruma, which isn't about the immediate reconstruction period, exactly, which Dower does more than justice for, but rather a slightly broader view of 'war memory', and how the conflict is remembered in Japan (and Germany, as the book covers both), in the decades after the conflict, so provides a nice complement to Dowers book.