I guess my question is really a handful of questions. The first question, I'm wondering about the fact that the bombs were nuclear specifically. I've seen elsewhere the argument that, from the Japanese perspective, it didn't particularly matter at the time whether it was one bomb from one plane vice several hundreds or thousands of bombs from a multitude of aircraft. Additionally given the fact that the long term effects of radiation and by extension nuclear warfare weren't known to the Japanese, did it matter at all that the US used singular nuclear bombs on each city? (As opposed to a 'traditional' bombing campaign to level the cities)

In your opinion how much more important, if at all, to the Japanese was the Soviet advance in Manchuria than the American attacks on the Homeland?

Are there any surviving firsthand accounts of Japanese officials' discussions about the end of the war? (Bonus if they're translated into English so I could read them as I don't speak Japanese)

Mostly I'm looking for general clarification behind the Japanese thought process towards the end of the war. Sorry if it's been asked here before. I did try to search previous questions but I didn't come up with anything. Though I fully admit that might just be because I was using bad keywords.