Giving and receiving whether it’s objects or favors is a bit more complicated in Japanese because you need to be aware of the social status between the giver and the receiver. Basically, there are two words for giving and one word for receiving listed below.

Japan has long been famed for its unique capsule hotel accommodation, but generally speaking these tiny rooms have been for practical purposes only (read: you wouldn’t really have wanted to stay in them while on vacation, other than for novelty reasons). But over the last few years, Tokyo has dramatically upped its tiny hotel game, and new hip – sometimes even “luxurious” – capsule hotels are popping up all over the city. Here are four of our favorites…

“Edge the Harukas,” located on the roof of the 60-story, 300-meter-high Abeno Harukas building, provides a sky-high view for those brave enough to traverse the 20-meter-long ledge while tethered to the building.

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The attraction costs ¥1,000 ($9.30) per person in addition to the observatory’s ¥1,500 admission fee per adult.

We know how hard it can be to find well made, reliable resources to learn, study, and practice your Japanese. As more content appears, it becomes harder and harder to tell what's worth your time and what isn't. You don't want to waste the time you should spend studying on digging through piles of Japanese garbage.

So stop taking chances buying random books, apps, and subscriptions you may or may not actually use. Instead, take a look at our monthly series! Every month we make a list of all the new resources for learning and practicing Japanese and cut it down to the very best. There could be a ton or just a few. They could be beginner, intermediate, or advanced. Maybe they're free! Who knows?!

NTT Docomo on Monday announced its Japan Welcome SIM TM series will introduce Plan 0 to allow overseas visitors in Japan to access the Internet for free via the Docomo mobile network, from Tuesday. The free service will initially be available in Hokkaido and Niigata prefectures, after which other areas will be added sequentially.

In Japan, small children take the subway and run errands alone, no parent in sight. The reason why has more to do with social trust than self-reliance.

But down at the end of one block, there’s a sign things are changing. Scaffolding surrounds a vacant house on a corner and workers from Daiwa House are clanging away inside. They’re not demolishing the house but refurbishing it – reorganising the floor plan, knocking down walls, opening up the kitchen and enhancing the insulation. Rather than tear down the house so the next buyer can build something new, they’re rebuilding it from the inside and putting it back on the market. It’s a relatively rare commodity, but something that is increasingly common across Japan: a secondhand home.

“For the first time, Japanese people are beginning to appreciate living in older homes,” says Noboru Kaihou, a Daiwa House public information officer.

The 19.7-meter, 49-ton statue of a mobile robot from the popular Gundam series has been standing in the Diver City Tokyo commercial plaza since Sept. 24.

It replaced a previous model as part of the Tokyo Gundam Project 2017, in which the statue represents the future of Tokyo and helps invigorate the bay area. The statue undergoes its one-minute transformation at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m. At night, a special short movie runs every 30 minutes from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

In fiscal 2010, just before the March 2012 disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holding’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the national average CO2 emission was 416 grams per kilowatt-hour. In fiscal 2013, after all nuclear power plants were idled, the figure rose to 570 grams.

Fuel economy is about 10 km per liter for gasoline-powered passenger cars and a little over 20 km per liter for hybrid cars. The comparable figure for EVs is some 10 km per kilowatt-hour. Even with all nuclear power plants idled, an EV emits only about half as much CO2 as hybrid vehicles. Even if all power stations used coal, the CO2 emission per kilowatt-hour would be 864 grams, making CO2 emissions from an EV less than from a hybrid car.

It now aims to raise the density level of volcanic ash that can affect nuclear plants by 100 times the current level, while pressing utilities to upgrade their air filters.

Reactor No. 3 at the Ikata plant and reactors Nos. 3 and 4 at the Genkai plant top the list of those most likely to be affected by clogged filters.