If you are Japanese and want to "meet" your old schoolmates, try accessing www.yubitoma.co.jp on the Internet, a virtual alumni association Web site with more than 1.3 million members.
The site -- "Gather around this finger," popularly known as "yubitoma" -- was created in May 1996 by Noriko Kokubo, 42, who hit on the idea while attending a meeting of her high school's alumni association. "I wanted to do something interesting," she said.
About 50,000 educational institutions, from elementary schools to universities, are registered on yubitoma's Web site. Subscribers, after registering their name, can obtain a list of their old school friends and e-mail them free of charge.