An attack by Japanese naval aircraft on the USS "Panay" in 1937, which the Japanese government declared accidental and for which it paid compensation, caused a crisis in U.S.-Japanese relations. A little-known dimension of the incident was the expression of spontaneous sympathy and apologies by Japanese citizens to the U.S. embassy in Tokyo. In the U.S. national archives, there can be found Japanese letters of apology, and one of them, written by a schoolboy and including a small donation of money for injured sailors, is the featured document in this issue's Teaching with Documents column. The authors present the historical background to the incident, and offer teaching suggestions for classes dealing with U.S.-Japanese relations in the 1930s.