A few words about value.  Waaay back, in 1967 (over fifty years ago!) I was a young sophomore, spending my first year at venerable Saint Louis High School, located on the rugged slopes of Kalaepohaku Ridge in Honolulu.  I was quite happy attending public middle school, but my parents so valued the benefits of education that they were willing to spend the significant cost associated with private school as an investment in my future….a princely sum of $600 per school year back then.  Fast forward to 2018 and the annual cost of attending my old alma mater has risen to $16,400, an increase of about 27 times!  If only annual wages had risen that fast, haha.  Also in 1967, my parents made another important financial decision – they coughed up $550 to purchase…a brand-new color tv!  That old Motorola was almost as huge as a HI-FI stereo and dominated our living room.  We could roam the three channels, on which, certain programs were beginning to be broadcast in color.  Today, you can purchase any number of thin, Hi-Def, Smart-TVs (made in Asia) for under $200…roughly a third of our 1960’s Motorola (yes kids, “Hello Moto” still made televisions back then).  These intersecting lines of price inflation/deflation means that relative to TV technology, the price of my high school education has risen about 100 times!  And we’re not even talking about skyrocketing college tuition.  So, while our entertainment and information options continue to grow exponentially at a diminishing cost, a good college education is so valued by local families that families must mortgage their homes and take out huge student loans – that will take decades to repay.  A sobering thought about how much folks will sacrifice for something they value.

 In that same vein, non-profit karate instructors willingly invest their time and effort to share their knowledge of the Do with eager students.  HIS Karate Foundation might seem like a financial bargain compared to regular dojos that charge $75-100/month for lessons.  Yet for your senseis, making money off the art would be meaningless.  Instead, we are honored to pass on what our senseis and generations of senseis before them have distilled and shared with us.  We consider the practice of Karate-Do to be invaluable to a balanced lifestyle and therefore, priceless.