Like, wouldn't bombing the boonies or mountains or a small island still send the required fear effect to the Japanese government without as much civilian casualties?
Hi, this question gets asked here a lot. You may be interested in these sections of our FAQ:
and
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/faq/militaryhistory/wwii/usa#wiki_atomic_bomb_targeting
and in particular these threads:
Just to clear up a minor misconception in the question text: "H-bombs" are hydrogen bombs, or thermonuclear weapons, which are a type of weapon developed after the end of WWII. The bombs that struck Hiroshima and Nagasaki were first-generation atomic bombs.