Traditionally, Japanese was only written vertically. ... Today most school textbooks, except those about Japanese or classical literature, are written horizontally. Most often it's the young people who write this way. Though, some older people still prefer to write vertically citing that it looks more formal.

Is Japanese written downwards?

When written vertically, Japanese text is written from top to bottom, with multiple columns of text progressing from right to left. ... When written horizontally, text is almost always written left to right, with multiple rows progressing downward, as in standard English text.

Do Japanese people still write vertically?

Vertical writing is still commonly used in Japan in novels, newspapers and magazines, including most Japanese comics and graphic novels (also known as manga), while horizontal writing is used more often in other media, especially those containing English language references.