嵐 (arashi), noun = storm

Examples of usage

嵐が来そうです (arashi ga kisō desu)
It looks as if a storm is going to come

嵐が治まりました (arashi ga osamarimashita)
The storm abated

男たちは嵐の夜に出てきました
(otokotachi wa arashi no yoru ni detekimashita
The men went out on a stormy night

This character is a compound of two characters: on top there’s a mountain (山 – yama) and under that there’s the character for wind (風 – kaze). Storms are common in the mountains, so this combination makes sense. Knowing the meanings of the individual parts of compound characters like this can help you to remember them.

In Mandarin this character is pronounced làn means mountain mist, mountain haze, mountain vapor or mist.

Another, more common, Japanese word for storm is 暴風 (bōfū)

風 (kaze, fū), noun = wind, breeze, air, appearance, manner, bearing, atmosphere

Examples of usage
強い風がふている (tsuyoi kaze ga futeiru) = There’s a strong wind blowing – this is certainly true of Brighton today, hence my choice of this word.

どこからともなく風が花の香りを運んできた　(doko kara tomo naku kaze ga hana no kaori o hakondekita) = The fragrance of flowers was bourne on the spring breeze

Compounds with 風
台風 (taifū) typhoon
扇風機 (senpūki) electric fan
風潮 (fūchō) tide, trend, tendency
風俗 (fūzoku) manners, customs, public morals
風景 (fūkei) scenery, landscape, view
風車 (kazaguruma) windmill
神風 (kamikaze) divine wind, kamikaze

In Mandarin this character is pronounced fēng and has more or less the same meanings. The simplified version of the character is 风

自動販売機 (jidōhanbaiki),
noun = vending machine

Breaking this word down into its compontent parts we get:
自動 (jidō) automatic (self move);
販売 (hanbai) selling;
機 (ki) machine.

This word can also be shortened to 自販機 (jihanki), which demostrates a typical method of abbreviating words in Japanese: you get rid of the second character in each pair.

Vending machines are ubiquitous in Japan – everywhere you look you’ll see one, or a whole bank of them, even on top of mountains! They sell an incredible variety of things, including hot and cold food, drinks (tea, coffee, beer, whiskey, etc), flowers, clothes, cigarettes, rice, eggs, jewellery, videos and comic books. According to Wikipedia, there’s one vending machine for every 23 people in Japan.

Related words
自動ドア (jidōdoa) = automatic door
自動車 (jidōsha) = car – in Chinese a car is 汽車 (qìchē) lit. “spirit cart”
自動操縦装置 (jidōsōjūsōchi) = autopilot