From the article > Their concern was not so much whether to end the conflict, but how to end it while holding onto territory, avoiding war crimes trials, and p

From the article > Their concern was not so much whether to end the conflict, but how to end it while holding onto territory, avoiding war crimes trials, and preserving the imperial system. Shows again how leaders think. The factors, probably in order of importance : 1) Holding on to territory : Retaining the power structure itself (I would argue that this is typical of extreme nationalists governments. Our politicians would never sacrifice themselves to save the United States, but the Japanese emperor and other leaders probably would have) 2) Avoiding war crimes trials : Not getting personally convicted (ie. personally remaining in power, this certainly seems a consideration of US politicians) 3) Preserving the imperial system : Retaining the power of the system over it's territory/subjects Safety and welfare of their subjects isn't even mentioned.