Japanese writing: vertical or horizontal?

[urbanegloss2037]

I'm sorry for being a *insult insult here* but I was wondering if Japanese writing is vertical or horizontal. I think both are possible, but what's the difference?



help please? thanks!

[Belton]

The difference is mainly one of style. Both are used. with slightly different conventions in layout.

Left to right (yokogaki) is now the most convienient, especially on computers and in handwriting but top to bottom right to left (tategaki) is used a lot in printed matter and formal handwritten matter.
Pre-war horizontal script was also right to left.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizontal ... an_scripts

[urbanegloss2037]

ありがとうございます!

[taffeta1067]

Novels tend to preserve the vertical script (at least the ones I have do) but magazines tend to flit between styles even within the same edition (just because they can, I suppose xD). Newspapers are also mostly vertical I *think* but I may be wrong. It isn't easy to get Japanese newspapers on the Welsh borders >.>