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Richard has ommitted perhaps the biggest reason for the use of nuclear weapons on Japan. It is the reason originally given at the time, and has been the closest to an "official" reason since then.
It was the desire to save the lives of American and Allied servicemen from an invasion of Japan.
Many people today are skeptical that something as simple as that could possibly be "the reason". While I admit that there were many factors that contributed to the decision (not the least of which was to act as a warning and threat to the USSR) it is a historical fact that the Japanese soldiers in World War 2 were fanatical in defence.
Some of the later battles showed that this fanaticism worked against them, where the Japanese suffered hugely compared to the light Allied casualties, but this was in battles where they were outnumbered, demoralised and short of supplies. Any General who counted on that sort of massacre when the Japanese were in their homeland, with prepared defences, short supply lines, and enormous determination, would be criminally negligent.
In the liberation of Sarawak in North Borneo, 1,234 Japanese troops were killed for the loss of 114 Australian and 4 American lives. But closer to home in Okinawa, the story was very different. Over 127,000 Japanese soldiers and 80,000 Okinawan civilians were killed, for the cost of over 12,500 American lives.
It is not commonly appreciated that on August 14 1945, barely half a day before the Emperor of Japan issued his formal surrender, over 1000 Japanese soldiers attacked the Imperial Palace to prevent the proclamation from being read.
People often revolt in order to end a war, but it is rare for them to revolt in order to prolong one.
Considering the enormous death tolls the Japanese were prepared to suffer in futile defences, it is very likely that the American decision to drop nuclear weapons on Japan actually *prevented* many unneccessary Japanese deaths. Although I'm sure that at the time, Japanese deaths wouldn't have concerned American decision makers.
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