High School Environment Club
The HS Environment Club aims to act locally and promote environmentalism by ‘greening’ the YIS campus with plants, vegetables and flowers. Additionally, students act as good neighbors by regularly sweeping and maintaining the grounds at the entrance to the Yokohama Foreign Cemetery. Special community events such as beach cleanups are also planned to provide opportunities for environmental stewardship.
Partners: Yokohama Foreign Cemetery
Grade 6 Service Partnership with Bonseju-ru Elderly Care Home
As part of the grade 6 Tutor curriculum, YIS students plan and deliver an activity programme to the senior residents at a nearby elderly home. Students learn the value of building relationships with others in our community and develop their communication and interpersonal skills.
Partner: Bonseju-ru Senior's Home
Grade 8 Service Partnership with Hijirizaka Special Needs School
As part of the grade 8 Tutor curriculum, YIS students engage with students at the Special Needs school and participate in their after-school activities like sports, dance/movement, and arts. Students learn the value of building relationships with others in our community and develop their communication and interpersonal skills.
Refugees International Japan (RIJ)
The YIS group exists to support the work of non-profit organization Refugees International Japan by fundraising for and raising awareness about the challenges of refugeeism around the world. Main fundraising at YIS is based on the sale of greeting cards donated by various artists every year.
Partners: Refugees International Japan
HOPE Service Club
The HOPE Service club partners with the HOPE International Development Agency to support the development of underserved rural communities and to raise awareness about the needs of those in poverty, particularly in Cambodia. YIS students volunteer for HOPE’s Tokyo-based events, fundraise for HOPE projects and advocate for HOPE’s work on sustainable development on issues such as sanitation, education, women’s empowerment and microfinance. Some students in the group participate in direct service as part of an annual trip to a local village in Pursat Province, Cambodia to construct a 3-classroom school structure and build relationships with the local Cambodian community.
Partners: HOPE International Development Agency
LGBTQ+ Student Group
The LGBTQ+ student group aims to promote an inclusive and supportive environment for students of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities at YIS. Advocacy focuses on building awareness about issues facing the queer community and eradicating the social oppression of LGBTQ community members.
Animal Relief Club
This student group focuses on advocacy and promoting animal welfare with a focus on homeless dogs in Japan. Direct service opportunities have included regular volunteer work at a Tokyo animal shelter, discussing animal-related issues with elementary, middle and high school students and promoting the adoption of homeless dogs among the YIS community.
HS Comfort Women Awareness Group
Through working with the Women's Active Museum on War and Peace in Shinjuku, this activity seeks to raise awareness of the stories of women who were forced to work in military brothels by the Japanese Imperial Army before and during WWII. In Japan, this is an issue that is often ignored or brushed aside in an attempt to sanitize history. This was seen recently in Japan's vociferous protest of South Korea's first-ever Memorial Day for Japanese Forces' Comfort Women Victims, which was held on August 14, 2018. This group will endeavor to support the work of the museum, and help ensure that the testimonies and memories of these women are preserved and promoted in the YIS and wider communities. As a relatively new group, members have a special opportunity to help shape the focus and direction of our activities.
Partner: Women's Active Museum on War and Peace
PA Nepal Service Group
This service group aims to support the NGO “PA Nepal”, which seeks to provide basic needs and human rights to prisoners and their children, one of the most vulnerable groups in Nepal. It intends to do this through raising funds, advocating for the issue, and learning about the social challenges in Nepal.
Partner: Prisoner's Assistance Nepal
Other Student Groups with Service elements: