Night Fighter Nut
Master Sergeant
As I remember, the Japanese always wanted to perform any negotiations from a position of strength. One of the major reasons they didn't surrender when they already knew the war was lost. I believe the Japanese, at the end of the war, wanted to have at least one major victory before discussing terms or surrender in order to save face. So the senario of only taking the major ports and holding them as a barganing chip for keeping other holdings in the Pacific makes sense.