Karen Seevers of Seward spent 40 years living and teaching in Japan, where she met and married her husband, John.
Karen Seevers backpacked through Europe and Russia and ended up in Japan.
After returning home to the United States, she decided to go back to Japan. She thought she would stay one or two years at the most.
“I got my dream job teaching at the American School in Japan and decided to stay,” Karen said.
Karen met her husband, John Seevers, at the school, where he also taught. They got married in Japan and ended up living and teaching there for 40 years.
Karen and John have lived in Seward for almost two years now.
“I really miss the mindfulness of the Japanese people,” Karen said.
She remembered a time that a woman left her summer pay in a satchel on the train. The woman went to the station master and they were able to figure out the train’s next stop. The station master at the next stop retrieved her satchel and kept it at the station until she could come get it.
Karen said it just felt safe. Everyone looked out for each other.
While Karen was in Japan a tsunami hit.
“The wall of water piles up on itself as it approaches shore. Then once it hits, it can be a story high, getting more and more destructive,
carrying all matter of debris as it roars inland,” she said. “Ships were washed on top of buildings” and “cars were wedged between trees.”
Amid all the devastation, the community came together. People weren’t looting, they were helping each other, she said.
Centers were set up where personal items could be recovered. Every picture that was found was saved. The pictures were cleaned, dried and then hung up so people could come in and find them.
“This woman came in, she had lost her husband, her son, her daughter, but she found her wedding album and she said, ‘This is a piece of history I can have back again,’” she said.
Now Karen and her husband are both retired and have restored their family farm in Seward.
“We love the good life, and we call our farm the Good Life Farm,” Karen said.
They fixed up the old farmhouse and are turning it into an Airbnb. It can sleep up to 15 people, and Karen hopes it will be a haven for people to get away and relax.
They want people from all over to enjoy the farmhouse.
When they built their home on a hill across from the farmhouse, they built it with the goal that their children and extended family would be able to come and stay.
“If you build it, they will come,” she said.
The first year they were back, Karen and her husband hosted family Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was stressful getting everything ready, but it helped her unpack more quickly.
Karen and John do not plan to ever live in Japan again, but they will continue to visit and keep with them pieces of their life there.
Their home is a mix of Japanese and American design. They had the builder add a Japanese-style entryway to their home called a Genkan.
“It was a challenge for the builder, but he was game,” Karen said.
John also built Karen a pond. When they moved to Nebraska, she said she needed to be by the water.
They have begun to settle in and finish the long process of unpacking. As a result, Karen and John are finding more time to enjoy their land and do what they love.
John likes to hunt, and Karen rides her horses and hopes to continue her love for teaching by giving riding lessons.
Travel has been an important part of John and Karen’s lives. She used to tell her students, “once you learn that the moon is not cheese, you can never believe that the moon is cheese again.”
Karen explained that the more experiences you have and the more people you meet, the more you learn to accept and love others, especially those who are different from you.
Once you realize that, you can never go back.
