Well, the Kamikaze could be viewed as a "Bargaining Chip", in the same way their Meat Grinder tactics were used in the island war.
The last time the Japanese tried to engage US forces in pitched battle was in the Marianas. As we all know, they were defeated disastrously. After that, Tojo's Government was dismissed, and the Japanese started to look for a way out, before the American Juggernaut landed on their own doorstep. (Leyte Gulf was not a pitched battle, it was a naval Kamikaze style sacrificial attack. That almost worked.)
At that point, the Japanese came up with a 2 part plan.
Japanese tactics were changed. The Air and Naval forces, took to the kamikaze ethos, and the Army went underground. The whole point being, to cause SO MANY casualties, that the American would lose heart, and decide that total victory was not worth the cost in blood. At the same time, peace feelers were being sent out by way of Russia, Geneva, Intl Red Cross, etc, trying to draw the US into negotiations. These attempts failed.
So yes, in that way, the Kamikaze, and the Meat Grinder Army tactics, WERE a bargaining chip! And it worked, somewhat. America WAS becoming weary of the casualties lists, growing ever larger the closer we got to Japan. The Truman Admin knew this from the polls, that Americans were growing weary of the War. Peleliu, Iwo, and Okinawa, were a dark sign of what was to come. And at that point, to all practical purposes, Japan was already defeated. So, people in the US government were asking themselves, WHO would take responsibility for the virtual extermination of the Japanese people, and American casualty lists, in the millions?
So the question became, was it worth ALL THAT AMERICAN BLOOD, to uphold Roosevelt's demand for Unconditional Surrender? Luckily the A-Bomb gave us an alternative!
