Original document, 1p. 4to., [n.p., n.d.], the very first transmission between the United States and Japan after the surrender of Japan at the end of World War II. The top half of the document states the message is from the U.S. Army from an unidentified station to Japan in an attempt to reach out to them for the first time since the Pearl Harbor attack. It is notated that the U.S. ‘received one message from WVLX’, but the context reveals this to be an auto-reply rather than a real time reply from Japan. The message from the U.S. reads in full: ‘This is the first message in history to pass between Japan and the United States over an Army circuit PD it is the first direct message of any kind between Japan and the United States since that infamous December day in 1941 PD from the United States Army Signal Corps personnel operating from special facilities on a United States Naval vessel in the waters of Tokyo Bay come felicitations to our comrades in arms CMA the men and women of the Signal Corps throughout the world’. A most unique document. The paper has become very delicate over time, bearing several tears, repaired with archival tape on the verso.