Editing Operation Downfall (section)

===Considerations===
The primary considerations that the planners had to deal with were time and casualties—how they could force Japan's surrender as quickly as possible with as few Allied casualties as possible. Before the [[First Quebec Conference]], a joint Canadian{{endash}}British{{endash}}American planning team had produced a plan ("Appreciation and Plan for the Defeat of Japan") which did not call for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands until 1947–48.{{sfn|Skates|p= 37}}{{sfn |Spector|pp= 276–77}} The American Joint Chiefs of Staff believed that prolonging the war to such an extent was dangerous for national morale. Instead, at the Quebec conference, the [[Combined Chiefs of Staff]] agreed that Japan should be forced to surrender not more than one year after [[Victory in Europe Day|Germany's surrender]].<ref>''Defeating Japan: The Joint Chiefs of Staff and Strategy in the Pacific War'', Charles F. Brower p. 59</ref><ref>''One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The U.S. Navy, 1890–1990'', George W. Baer p. 240</ref>

The United States Navy urged the use of a [[blockade]] and airpower to bring about Japan's capitulation. They proposed operations to capture airbases in nearby [[Shanghai]], [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]], and [[Korea]], which would give the United States Army Air Forces a series of forward airbases from which to bombard Japan into submission.{{sfn|Skates|pp=44–50}} The Army, on the other hand, argued that such a strategy could "prolong the war indefinitely" and expend lives needlessly, and therefore that an invasion was necessary. They supported mounting a large-scale thrust directly against the Japanese homeland, with none of the side operations that the Navy had suggested. Ultimately, the Army's viewpoint prevailed.{{sfn|Skates|pp=53–54}}

Physically, Japan made an imposing target, distant from other landmasses and with very few beaches geographically suitable for sea-borne invasion. Only [[Kyūshū]] (the southernmost island of Japan) and the beaches of the [[Kantō region|Kantō Plain]] (both southwest and southeast of [[Tokyo]]) were realistic invasion zones. The Allies decided to launch a two-stage invasion. Operation Olympic would attack southern Kyūshū. Airbases would be established, which would give cover for Operation Coronet, the attack on [[Tokyo Bay]].{{citation needed|date = July 2014}}