March will forever be a month to remember in Japan. Already a year has gone by since that awful 11th of March when the world erupted in all sorts of ways around us. Given all the terrible things that happened then and continue to haunt us now, what are the values that we need to hold most dear? What kind of mindset do we need to maintain so that we do not return unquestioningly back to the old ways of doing things — the same ways that lie under some of the crucial man-made problems that followed the natural disasters that hit us just over a year ago.

As I contemplate these things, the words that come to mind are diversity and inclusiveness. Diversity provides you with alternatives in times of crises. This was such an important part of the lesson we learned over the few weeks immediately following the earthquake and tsunami disasters in the Tohoku region.

It was thanks to the existence of small retailers and local grocery stores that had nothing to do with global supply chains that kept us going as daily products disappeared from the shelves of large supermarkets and convenience store chains. The inclusiveness that allows the large and the small to coexist makes the economy go round in times of strain.