The importance of 安. calm; peaceful; tranquil; quiet · comfortable; at ease · safe; secure;

安. calm; peaceful; tranquil; quiet · comfortable; at ease · safe; secure; to calm; to pacify; to feel satisfied with; to find a place for; to plant; to fit; to install; to cherish; ... 

In a blog post titled "The end of the line?" about the derailment of a little used but cherished rail line in Japan, the author describes a very important aspect of East Asian culture:

You could do worse, in attempting to explain much of what happens in modern Japan—and nearly everything that doesn’t—and by extension Korea and China, than by holding the event up to the light shone by five interlocking words, all of which share a common character: anzen(sei), (安全[性], safety), anshin (安心, peace of mind), antei (安定, stability), fuantei (不安定, instability), and fuan (不安, unease). Safety is an integral component of stability, which leads to peace of mind. Its absence leads to instability and hence to unease. These words exist like the parallel strings of a guitar: a single string can be plucked or several can be strummed at once. The Iwaizumi derailment was a clear violation of the prescription of anzensei, safety, and an infringement of anshin, peace of mind, not only of the injured but of the townsfolk of Iwaizumi, engendering in them fuan, unease, that the derailment would be consequential enough to knock the line out of commission, with the antei, stability, of the “natural” order of things, replaced by the fuantei, instability, of change–even though a replacement bus service running the length of the line was inaugurated just two days after the derailment.

The interesting thing about this character 安 is that it shows a woman in a house or dwelling. I do not know what the West has ever determined to be the essential feature or characteristic of safety, security, stability, peace, calm, etc., but I cannot think of a better encapsulation of it than a woman in her own home, especially in regards to children and family. This is the true base unit of society for it is the smallest social unit in society and it is in the participation with local traditions that culture is passed on to the next generation. An individual alone is not a social unit and no culture can develop with individuals living in isolation from others.


More about Yubari Japan is in the linked article below.
Deserted Yubari tries creating new population nucleus in test case for Japan