Japanese Writing

Traditionally, Japanese has been written vertically. But now horizontal writing is used too. When they write vertically, they begin at the top of the right side of the page and go down. Each new line follows to the left. When they write horizontally, they start at the top left-hand side of the page and go from left to right, as in English. It's just as easy to write one way as the other.

Most books, magazines, and newspapers are printed in the vertical style. This is because it is somewhat easier to read Japanese this way. But it's easier to use the horizontal style if passages from foreign languages are included.

The front of a Japanese book is where the back of an English book would be. Almost all Japanese books open from left to right-like a Hebrew or an Arabic book. It's the same with newspapers too.