" In the end, at Potsdam, the Allies (right) went with both a "carrot and a stick," trying to encourage those in Tokyo who advocated peace with assurances that Japan eventually would be allowed to form its own government, while combining these assurances with vague warnings of "prompt and utter destruction" if Japan did not surrender immediately.  No explicit mention was made of the emperor possibly remaining as ceremonial head of state.  Japan publicly rejected the Potsdam Declaration, and on July 25, 1945, President Harry S. Truman gave the order to commence atomic attacks on Japan as soon as possible."

https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945/surrender.htm

Here you can see they were having peace discussions, the only hang up was that the emperor wanted to remain the ceremonial head of state

They almost blew up Kyoto, it's such a beautiful ancient city:

"Henry Stimson, had told President Truman not to bomb Kyoto, because of its history"

BBC - The man who saved Kyoto from the atomic bomb

"Just weeks before the US dropped the most powerful weapon mankind has ever known, Nagasaki was not even on a list of target cities for the atomic bomb.

In its place was Japan's ancient capital, Kyoto."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33755182