Betty Sakamoto: Aloha. Welcome to Betty’s Real Estate Corner, brought to you by Coldwell Banker Sakamoto Properties. Here we are. We’re coming up to – I can’t say how long since the fires. It just seems like it’s gone on and on and on. We have a lot of different things we’re going to talk about today. I want to thank Danny Couch because he’s allowed us to use his lead-in. It says what we say and we talk about it all the time, I love Hawaii. There is no better place. I’m the luckiest person in the world – I met Roy Sakamoto and moved here. Love it all, since then. We’ve also met the Kuwanas – who are some of the greatest people of all time. And Yumi Kuwana is here today. We’re going to talk about a variety of different things. We’ll probably stumble around a bit because we’ve been very busy. We haven’t had time to make a plan, but we’re going to try to come up with many things that will interest you. And Yumi, want to do a little quick introduction of Yumi?
Yumi Kuwana: Sure. Betty and everybody, it’s such an honor to be here today. Thank you so much for inviting me. My name is Yumi Kuwana. I am first and foremost a mother of three. I have a great husband, Ichiro, but also I run two organizations. One is Cook Mind Capital, LLC. It’s an investment advisory firm that is sort of similar to a multifamily office. We look into various alternative investments and make the best decision for each family and cater to them. The second thing I do which is my passion project, is Global Citizens Initiative. It’s a 501C3 nonprofit located in Greenwich, Connecticut. But it’s really to engage, educate, and empower high school students from all over the world, all sectors of society, to be lifelong leaders of positive change.
BS: It is amazing what you’ve done with that. Amazing. Let’s keep going and tell everyone a little more.
YK: Oh, you’re so kind. Well, I’ve been running it for 12 years and the program has. This year is going to be the 10th anniversary.
BS: Wow.
YK: So that’s very exciting. So far, we’ve had close to 300 students come through our program. We have incredible alums who are change-makers and making a huge difference in their home communities as well. We have students who came from Afghanistan, Syria, Mongolia, Japan, and the United States.
BS: Chicago?
YK: Chicago? Not yet, actually.
BS: We’re going to get you someone.
YK: Yes, absolutely. And Hawaii, too. That’s been really a blessing to have students come from Hawaii. For the first five years we had it in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in and around the Harvard campus. Then we went to Tokyo in 2019. For the past many years, we’ve hosted at St Andrew’s University in Scotland. We’ve just selected 37 incredible high-caliber students from all over the world who will be gathering together in July at St Andrew’s University. It’s sort of a boot camp where we’ll have a conference where they learn how to use the appropriate resources, mindset, and support each student gets a one-on-one mentor to help them with their projects. They will focus on a service project in their home community that can help make a difference in their local society.
BS: That is a lot to just say one thing, but that’s amazing. At one point we were trying to get a student from Hawaii. But it was a difficult task because we started a little bit late. We will try again at some point. We’ll try to get some sponsors because it’s an expensive thing for each person. So, if anybody hears this and would like to be involved in helping us with that, maybe you could help us with the funding. I’ll talk to the rest of our board because we just haven’t gone any further with it. I would love to see a student from Hawaii, from Maui. I would like to see the student from Lahainaluna. That’s what we had tried to do at one point. We just didn’t have a lot of time. It was a difficult period and now it’s obviously been more difficult. But I think it is something that would be great.
Before we keep going, I’ve got something that was handed to me as a press release, and I’m on the Lahainaluna High School Foundation Board, and Art Fillazar, who is involved with the board and getting set for David Malo Day 2024. It is a really great thing. It’s going to be held again on Boarders’ Field and it’ll be on April 13th, 2024. It’s going to celebrate the legacy of the first honored graduate, David Malo, who was noted as an educator and historian. It’s going to be a lot of fun. The sunset event will feature a dinner at 5 pm, followed by entertainment at 6 pm in songs and dances of the islands. The dancing will be fabulous. The Boarders’ Chorus will be involved. It’s going to be spectacular. It’ll be a great opportunity for class reunions that would come to that. So we’re trying to see if any of the class reunions might step up for it. The dinner can be reserved by calling Palakiko at 808-276-3267. The radio station, KAOI is going to broadcast information as well. It is something that will matter for the Lahainaluna High School Foundation and a celebration of David Malo Day 2024.
YK: Oh, that’s wonderful.
BS: That’s good.
YK: Congratulations. Yes.
BS: We also had some stuff that you and I wanted to talk about. It was a little hard to come up with the right thing, but we’re going to call it “Goodness and Aloha Spirit on Maui”. What it will take and different things that are going on that I think are really, really important. One thing was that during this period that’s been so difficult on Maui – many, many people opened their homes up to strangers. To the best of my knowledge, for the most part worked pretty well. That’s really great. There’s been a lot of yoga going on.
YK: Yeah. I’m just blown away by the hospitality and the outpouring of support that Hawaiians are giving each other. That just almost makes me cry with, you know, warmth. We weren’t using our house, so we gave it to a Lahaina person who was a victim of the fire, which was rewarding to us too because we were able to help. On Tuesdays, I go to Airport Beach’s Yoga – which is a donation-based yoga where a lot of yoga teachers are donating their time. Each instructor will come up with a nonprofit organization or a family or person who has been a victim of the wildfire and donate. All participants, if they so desire, pay $5 or $10 or sometimes they are willing to donate $50. All that money goes to the person who receives the money. My daughter, Alyssa teaches on Tuesdays from 7:30 – 8:30. I’m a dedicated mother and go there to receive yoga. It’s such a beautiful location with the ocean right there and so many people are participating.
BS: It’s amazing. Alyssa is amazing herself. I mean, she has graduated from college. She could do many, many things. I can’t remember exactly what her goals are , but I know they’re big. She’s here right now and really wants to help on Maui. She stayed here and is finding things that she wants to do and people she wants to take care of. There’s a thing that she had written for us or you wrote for us. But on the temporary housing going on right now, the TY Management Corporation held a groundbreaking and blessing ceremony for the Kapalua Village Temporary Housing Project for Kapalua Golf Employees – on Monday morning, February 19. The project signifies one of the first privately funded temporary housing projects on Maui to assist individuals and families impacted by the wildfires. The first people that will be there are employees of Kapalua who lost their homes or had substantial damage and are unable to occupy them. I’m sure that’s not everybody. But they’re just going up. One of the houses is complete. It’s absolutely darling. It’s spectacular.
YK: Well, it definitely took many partners to make it happen.
BS: Yes, it did.
YK: So that was incredible. They really took the leadership role. They have a strong relationship with Daiwa House. Daiwa House brought these very technologically innovative and simple temporary prefabricated houses that they had.
BS: My understanding is that Daiwa has done this in Japan.
YK: Yes, their tsunami residents ten years ago.
BS: And they have these. But it’s amazing.
YK: That’s 2011.
BS: I’m sorry to interrupt.
YK: No. It was wonderful to see one of these or at least two of them, the model sort of prefabricated buildings where they have either three rooms or two rooms and a kitchen.
BS: There are three bedrooms in some of them. Two bedrooms and some. I think that’s pretty much the smallest.
YK: Yes.
BS: It could be a little smaller, but for the most part, it will accommodate a family. They are small but when you look at it and go in there, it does bring tears to your eyes because if you look at it with an open mind, we could all live there. Individually, we could live there with our families and hopefully, we wouldn’t have to live there for three years or whatever.
YK: The time frame is five years.
BS: Five years, yeah.
YK: Hopefully, it’s shorter. There’s going to be 50 units that are going up very soon – in the next three months.
BS: Yes. There are already two that are up. One is totally furnished, etc. and it’s absolutely beautiful. It’s not yet ready to be occupied because we still need some utilities. We need the water and electricity hooked up. We need everything. It’s all there and it’s going to happen. And again, it was done. TY Management has done a lot for Kapalua and the island, I believe.
YK: Yes. They’re also doing Hawaii Technology Academy, providing an interim campus for the K-12 school, which is pretty impressive. The old pineapple grill that’s now a campus, which is great, too.
BS: Yeah, it’s small and it’s going to work, though. You can see that people are excited about being there. It’s easy to get there. There’s enough parking. It’s pretty spectacular as far as I’m concerned. That’s going to help a lot of people. So many things that are going on right now, including scholarships to Maui Prep – after serving as an evacuation shelter and distribution hub in the days immediately after the wildfire which ravaged Lahaina. It was a nightmare for everybody. Maui Prep expanded its enrollment by 40% to welcome 140 students. The call to keep Lahaina students in Lahaina resonated with many.
YK: That’s just amazing. It’s part of the Aloha Spirit.
BS: I think so, too. There is such an amazing spirit here, to begin with.
YK: Absolutely. Actually, I have volunteered for the Hua Momona Farm and Foundation as well which is also in Kapalua. They provide meals. We were creating an assembly line, but they grow a lot of organic vegetables. Now, they have a whole team, plus volunteers. If you ever feel like volunteering to create food or picking vegetables, definitely sign up. They have a whole website.
BS: How would you get to the website?
YK: Oh, it’s called HuaMomonaFarms.com.
BS: Let’s spell that out once.
YK: HUAMOMONAFARMS.COM
BS: Farms plural.
YK: Yes.
BS: Okay. Perfect. That will give you a lot of information on how to be involved in one way or another. With everything that’s going on there.
YK: You can get a meal while you’re volunteering.
BS: You even got a meal when you’re volunteering. Yeah.
YK: They distribute over 200 meals per day, which is very impressive. Very, very organized and offers a good cause. If you are a displaced Lahaina person, you’re welcome to get those meals.
BS: Everybody needs it. Obviously, we all need to eat. We all need to be with friends and a happy environment. For the most part, I feel like that is happening in West Maui. It’s difficult. Not all people have a place of their own at this point and everything has a drawback and a plus. There is a lot happening that can keep somebody in a home. And that’s an exciting part already that people do have a place.
YK: Absolutely.
BS: Going back just for a minute to the David Malo Day on April 13th, 2024. Everybody could look that up. You could Google it under the Lahainaluna High School Foundation – check that out. The sunset event that they’re going to do is going to be at 5pm to 6pm on that date. Try to be there, make a plan. You can get tickets by calling 808-276-3267 or email. You’ll have to get through one of those places. At the very end of the show, we’ll get that email to everybody. What else can you think of right now? Anything? Yeah, the scholarships to Maui Prep.
YK: Yes.
BS: That just was amazing by itself that it all worked. Maui Prep expanded its enrollment by 40% to welcome 140 students. The call to keep the Lahaina students in Lahaina resonated with many. That really has been a major thing. Stuff like this is vitally important to our community and it’s crazy. I mean, you can go to real estate right now. Real estate right now is in the middle of another possible bubble. It’s insane. The amount of real estate that has been sold and hopefully people will be happy with what’s going on. Many people have set up and have allowed rentals in their place. A lot of the payment is coming through. It’s very interesting. If anyone is looking and they check in with the Lahainaluna High School Foundation, we can do our best to direct you. But it is still difficult to get a home. But there are possibilities. So give that a try.
YK: Absolutely. Still, FEMA and the Red Cross are involved right now. A lot of people need extra mental support. Some people might not even know that they have PTSD, but there is definitely that sort of support available, too. That’s really important because it’s not just our physical body, but our mental well-being. Our spiritual well-being is just as important.
BS: Absolutely. Like what you said, the mental, spiritual and everything. Even the thing going on right now that we talked about a little bit before, the yoga thing – has a spiritual component to it.
YK: Yeah.
BS: That’s really important for people. It’s very important whether you do it there or talk to Alyssa – she does private things too. She has done some really great sessions with people. She’s helped us and we’ve really enjoyed being involved with it.
YK: Oh, that’s great. Well, I didn’t realize she was an entrepreneur. She started her own company called Kaimana Healing LLC. She’s really working on her meditation, yoga, and spiritual healing to help people. That’s what she is called to do so. I’m very excited to see what happens and transpires. If you are interested, just go to AlyssaKuwana.com.
BS: That’s good. A little bit of a plug to Coldwell Banker Sakamoto Properties. We have listings that go through the roof, cost-wise. It really is an amazing thing right now what is happening. How many or few properties are on the market right now. It has been an insane time in real estate, which is shocking to me. I don’t know where it’ll go from here. I don’t think anybody does for sure, but I think it is very difficult, has been very hard for people. Many people have lost a home. They have figured out to buy another home while they wait out what’s going to happen with their existing home, which is going to be a really difficult – somewhat long-term event. Because it’s not going to happen overnight. The properties need to be cleaned and it’s huge. Everything that’s going on right now. Huge.
YK: Absolutely. Some people are paying mortgages on their houses that burnt down.
BS: Yes.
YK: So they have to continue to pay their mortgage while they’re renting another property. That’s really a big challenge.
BS: Well, sadly. Maybe a thing that everybody should think about in the future is to ensure that you have enough insurance. For all of us right now, insurance has gone up substantially. But the idea would be that theoretically, you want to have enough insurance that you could continue to live and rebuild.
What’s going on right now, it’s not going to be about just rebuilding because properties need to be cleared and cleaned. It’s huge. Then many people didn’t have insurance on their buildings because they felt like the building had no value, which is theoretically true in many cases. But you need something. I think it’s something that we should all be, especially as realtors looking into. Because there’s a lot of land and places like this on Maui. Lahaina would be the leader in it because it’s the best of the best of the best. But it’s also just home to a lot of people. Just home. You need to find ways to protect your home. I would talk to insurance people right now, any of us should be thinking about if our house burned down, can we get it back together within a reasonable period of time? Are they going to pay for rent for us so that we can live someplace else while rebuilding? There are huge questions that we should all be talking to insurance people, maybe attorneys, etc., so that we’re comfortable.
YK: Yes. That sounds smart. Now that’s really wisdom.
BS: Do you have any other questions? You had some great thoughts and I probably talk a little too much. We were talking about the idea of goodness on Maui and stuff that we can all do to help people.
YK: Yes.
BS: Maybe sometimes just asking someone how they’re doing. Ask exactly how they’re doing. When you learn, maybe by mistake, you’re in the grocery store and someone’s in front of you and you hear them say that they lost their home. Maybe just have a quick conversation. Are you doing okay? What’s happening? And offer prayers. Because I think sometimes that’s the only thing that we can do is pray for someone. I do think that works.
YK: It is called the Healing Island and the Spiritual Island. This whole Hawaiian way of living is very much cherished as well as seen all over our community.
BS: You wrote down a little while ago when we still had a half hour to talk. You had written down – “Goodness and Aloha Spirit in and on Maui”. That’s a huge statement by itself. Most people here are kind and they have a lot of goodness to give. If we all just keep remembering what the aloha spirit is and how much it matters to all of us. It’s amazing that people do it every day. Somebody will do some little kind thing for you. Now I’m getting older, she’s still pretty young. I see it every day when somebody will offers to do something for me. I’ve got to remember not to be huffy and say, I’m fine. I can get it myself. I’ll always remember to accept kindness from someone, accept goodness. Accept. Acceptance is a really great thing. Now we’re hitting the one-minute warning.
YK: I think also it’s all about gratitude, isn’t it?
BS: It is all about gratitude.
YK: No matter what you have to be grateful for because that in itself is really good energy and it brings new gratitude.
BS: It does. I think if you give with kindness and gratitude, it comes back tenfold.
YK: Tenfold.
BS: Exactly. And we’re back with Danny Couch. I love Hawaii… I love Hawaii…
