Horizontal vs. Vertical Writing
The Japanese text can be written horizontally or vertically. When texts are written vertically, they are written top to bottom, starting from the rightmost column. When written horizontally, they are written from left to right just like English. Both texts below mean "Is it a school? --- Yes, it is." Note that there are no spaces between words in Japanese.
がっこうですか。
はい、そうです。
When you write horizontally (left to right), the Japanese period Japanese period (horizontal version) and the comma Japanese comma (horizontal version) are written at the lower left corner of the full-size area. Note that the small /tsu/ small hiragana "tsu" (horizontal version) representing double consonants is also written at the lower left of the full-size area.

Sample vertical writing

When you write vertically (top to bottom), it is read from top to bottom and right to left. The Japanese period Japanese period (vertical version) and comma Japanese comma (vertical version)are written at the upper right corner of the full-size area.

The small small hiragana "tsu" (vertical version) representing double consonants is also written ar the upper right of the full-size area.
book 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.