Horizontal vs. Vertical Writing

1: Writing Directions

Japanese can be written in two ways: vertical or horizontal. When Japanese is written vertically, it goes from top to bottom, starting on the right side of the page. When it is written horizontally, it goes from left to right, just like English. The two examples below have the same meaning: “Is it a school?” — “Yes, it is.” In Japanese, words are written without spaces, so try to read the sentence as one continuous line.

► がっこうですか。 ► はい、そうです。	When you write horizontally, the Japanese period and the comma are written at the lower left corner of the full-size hiragana space. The small tsu is also written at the lower left of the full-size hiragana.
	When you write vertically, the Japanese period and comma are written at the upper right corner of the full-size hiragana space. The small is also written at the upper right of the full-size hiragana.
	Japanese books written vertically open in the opposite direction from books written in English. Japanese books written horizontally open in the same direction as books in English.