Yohi alumni are defined as students or faculty members having attended any school [high, Jr., middle, grade, elementary.......] connected with the American School system in Yokohama or Yokosuka beginning in 1946 -- including satellite schools associated with the support of Americans in the Yokohama area -- like St Joseph College.

In 1996 when the alumni were first published on this 'Found List' they were listed alphabetically by 'class year' -- and remained displayed as such until June of 2005.  That was beneficial for a number of reasons -- it was easy to find classmates and determine to which group they belonged........ and the data originally displayed included all contact information like -- addresses, married names...........

As the alumni were added to these lists they were categorized and identified belonging to and 'organized' group ['B, C ......], -- or were were 'unassigned' -- which meant they were assigned to group A.  As they joined a 'organized' group they were removed from the A group, and their status changed as appropriate.  Some became members of more than one group.

Over the years some 'groups' disbanded, and the alumni from them were incorporated into group A; or the alumni joined other 'organized' groups. 

During that process and as alumni 'disappeared' and  got lost again -- or were not contactable any longer, group managers began dropping them from their own  private lists, and added new ones that we did not know about, or began categorizing alumni as 'inactive' .................. 

We felt we wanted to insure that each alumni added to our list would forever be included on our list -- even if they were no longer contactable or had been dropped from a group.

In effect two separate lists were being maintained -- one set by the managers of the groups themselves for their own use -- and those were private lists; and these Found lists publicly displayed on the web site web site.

To insure the lists hereon are as accurate as possible, and that NO ONE IS EVER FORGOTTEN [removed], and ........ in June 2005 I decided to do away with our one consolidated 'by class year' lists, and create new individual listings by group and that all alumni that ever were members of that group would forever be listed thereon.  They would be listed as 'Active' or 'Inactive' -- all explained on the lists themselves.  

Even so, the actual totals we show today as being members of a particular group do NOT agree with the totals used by the groups themselves.   Some of the reasons for these discrepancies are: the alumni was actually not a member of the group identified  to start with even though they indicated they were; or the alumni has subsequently been 'lost' again and dropped from the roles of the group they were identified to, or the alumni has subsequently chosen to be 'unlisted', or the alumni is in fact deceased and no one knows it, or we have not been provided with information to make corrections or adjustments; or ..............Thus the membership figures we show above and those shown by the managers of the groups themselves will NEVER be the same and ONLY the lists belonging to the groups themselves are accurate -- well to some degree..   

So what do our lists mean -- they simply indicate that at one time starting about 1985 when I [Jim Hyatt] began consolidating and monitoring all alumni lists that we knew at one time that each person was alive and well and could be contacted, or was known to be deceased.

Now only the POC's of the various groups know for sure who their members are and how to contact them.   In fact, even the POC's are having trouble locating their members because alumni as a general rule do NOT keep us and them informed of how they may be contacted.    

Further, it is very important for you to recall and better understand why and how these Found Lists evolved and what information they originally contained and why most of it over the years has been removed.   What follows is a summary of what has transpired since the web site was founded in 1996 and these lists were posted on it for the first time and made public, to this date.  This will help you understand why we display what we do and what we don't, and the actions now in progress to  further limit the public display to protect the alumni.

In the beginning of this web site -- 1996 -- alumni were allowed to be simply listed as a 'number' [unlisted] with no public name identification if they chose; but, generally everyone permitted at least the display of their first and last [maiden] name.  Alumni at that time could also list additional data like a married name, initials. 'nick' names, years attended YOHI, city and state of residence, e-mail address, and other features were added like the alumni group they belonged to ......... Some alumni chose not to be listed in any form -- remaining totally anonymous.   In the beginning most alumni permitted ALL pertinent data about them to be listed and made public.

Over the years, as the dangers of the internet became known, specifically with respect to the public display of such sensitive information, it became necessary to remove bits and pieces of data to offset the threat and conform to evolving standards.  Identity theft for example became a real problem to everyone and data on our lists was very sensitive.   Thus, slowly over the past 6 years data has been removed to reduce the risks to the alumni, albeit reducing the value of the lists.   Secondarily, it was discovered that some data displayed was not being updated by alumni thus what was displayed was inaccurate -- and still is.  Further, some 'groups' began removing alumni from their membership rosters who had become 'lost again' for one reason or another; and, alumni were not responding to requests to determine their status.   The list was becoming even less accurate, further degrading it's benefit to those who viewed it.  It was discovered that the best way to determine the status of an alumni was to contact the managers of the 'groups' for whom the alumni are members.

In Sep 2003, it was necessary to stabilize the list again by removal of even more data which was placing the alumni at risk.    The world discovered 'identity theft' and the display of certain data could no longer remain in public view.  

That change removed ALL DATA except the first, middle, and last [maiden] names of the alumni, their 'class' [year graduated from high school], the alumni 'group' [A, B, C, E, G] in which the alumni is a member, and some special codes which denote certain status.  Alumni known to be deceased are listed on the deceased list with additional information provided if known.  Some faculty members will have additional data included. 

So, basically, these lists now just represent alumni who at one time were in contact with us but whose whereabouts at present is uncertain and to discover more about any particular alumni you must contact the POC of the alumni group for which the alumni is identified to.

If you are included on these lists and would like to be removed or if you are a 'new' alumni -- a person who has not yet joined a 'group' and would like to be included or just obtain information, please contact Bill Sims.