The Royal British Legion was founded in 1921 to help soldiers returning from the Great War to a country which had no jobs or homes for them. In that year, which also saw the first Poppy Day in November, over 600,000 able-bodied ex-Service men were unemployed, with many reduced to selling matches in the street and tramping the countryside looking for work. By the following year, poppies were being made at the Legion's Poppy Factory in London's Old Kent Road, the first of many Legion initiatives to provide employment for disabled men and women. The poppies raised money to help ex-Service men set up in a variety of trades such as blacksmiths, dairymen, butchers, barbers, window cleaners, painters and decorators.

There remains a strong need for the Legion to provide financial, social and emotional support to millions who have served or are currently serving in the Armed Forces, and to their dependants. In particular, funds are required to help with the hospitalisation, care and rehabilitation of wounded Services personnel; brave young men and women many of whom have lost one or more limbs in the service of their country. So please give generously.

The annual Poppy Appeal is our main fund-raising activity. Special thanks go to businesses, societies, embassies, schools, restaurants and pubs that allow poppies to be displayed and sold in their premises and at various events, and also to the ex-pat community in Japan, both as a group and as individuals, for their generous support of the Poppy Appeal.

Poppies are available from mid/late October. As always, the culmination of the Poppy Appeal is the solemn but moving Ceremony of Remembrance at the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Hodogaya, Yokohama on the second Sunday of November, when Heads of Commonwealth Missions, other diplomatic officials, and representatives of various service and other organisations lay wreaths in front of the Cross of Sacrifice as those assembled stand in quiet reflection.

Where to Obtain your Poppy in Japan:
British Embassy (Tokyo)
British Consulate-General (Osaka)
British Chamber of Commerce (Tokyo)
British Council (Tokyo)
The British School in Tokyo
St Maur's International School (Yokohama)
St Michael's International School (Osaka)
Benny's Place (Yokohama)
Brits@Lunch (Tokyo)
Full Monty (Yokohama)
Japan-Scottish Highland Games (organised by the St. Andrew Society of Yokohama & Tokyo)
Laser Rush (Yokohama)
The FooTNiK (Ebisu, Tokyo)
The FooTNiK (Osaki, Tokyo)
The Rising Sun (Yotsuya, Tokyo)
The Tokyo British Clinic (Ebisu, Tokyo)
The Warrior Celt (Ueno, Tokyo)
The Yokohama Tavern (near Yokohama Station)
What the Dickens (Ebisu, Tokyo)
Yokohama International School

Nagoya: TBA

Poppy People
Anyone interested in helping with the next Poppy Appeal should contact Arthur Hawtin, Poppy Appeal Organiser by email or telephone +81 (0)80 9679 4538.