横書きと縦書き Is there a preference for usage?


横書きと縦書き Is there a preference for usage? I noticed that Japanese is written
horizontally and vertically.




I prefer reading horizontal writing! :)

Right. Based on a cursory look at the books on my wife's bookshelf, as well as
what I generally encounter in day-to-day life, my observation is that vertical
writing is more prevalent for long-form printed material -- novels, manga,
newspapers, and the majority of magazines all use 縦書き.

On the other hand, flyers, (school or company) handouts, and notices
predominantly use 横書き.

And then there's the best (or worst) of both worlds: both in the same
publication. This is pretty common in magazines, where the main article will
be in 縦書き, with picture captions, some headlines, and quotes from the article
will written horizontally, an approach also found in a lot of non-fiction
books, especially those that rely on a lot of visuals.

For handwritten notes, horizontal writing is pretty much the norm unless
you're using 原稿用紙 or doing calligraphy.

Those are just trends I've noticed, however, and I don't have any hard numbers
to back them up.




I prefer reading horizontal writing! :)

Right. Based on a cursory look at the books on my wife's bookshelf, as well as
what I generally encounter in day-to-day life, my observation is that vertical
writing is more prevalent for long-form printed material -- novels, manga,
newspapers, and the majority of magazines all use 縦書き.

On the other hand, flyers, (school or company) handouts, and notices
predominantly use 横書き.

And then there's the best (or worst) of both worlds: both in the same
publication. This is pretty common in magazines, where the main article will
be in 縦書き, with picture captions, some headlines, and quotes from the article
will written horizontally, an approach also found in a lot of non-fiction
books, especially those that rely on a lot of visuals.

For handwritten notes, horizontal writing is pretty much the norm unless
you're using 原稿用紙 or doing calligraphy.

Those are just trends I've noticed, however, and I don't have any hard numbers
to back them up.

