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The terms were unconditional surrender & Japan wanted far more than just keeping the emperor prior to the bombings. In any case, Japan did surrender uncondition

The terms were unconditional surrender & Japan wanted far more than just keeping the emperor prior to the bombings. In any case, Japan did surrender unconditionally. They tried to add a clause protecting the emperor, vut the americans were clear that unconditional meant unconditional and japan ended up agreeing with that. So It wasn't part of a separate peace offer, it was just fully unconditional surrender. The US only ended up letting the emperor stay to keep stability and ease occupation, but were not obliged to do so

boomboomsubban 6y ago
The United States could have detailed the Potsdam Declaration's demands and turned them into terms of surrender fitting the Szilárd petition. Japan may have surrendered if they did, they at least had doubts that maintaining territory was still possible. We'll never know, as instead they demanded unconditional surrender and used atomic bombs to force acceptance. Either way, the US was never in a scenario where their only option was nuke cities or a full scale invasion.