Were the Japanese already talking surrender conditions before the nuclear bombs were dropped?

by trawler852

I think I remember reading some where that the only sticking point was holding the emperor responsible. Is this correct?

restricteddata

They were not "talking surrender conditions" in any public way, though there was a faction of the Japanese cabinet that was exploring the possibility of having the then-neutral Soviet Union act as a negotiator to end the war diplomatically. The US was aware of these discussions because it had decrypted their foreign ciphers. See the longer discussion in this response.