Writing a letter vertically to pen-pal?

I read somewhere that writing vertically is more traditional and therefore seen as more formal. And also that it is mostly really old people who write letters that way....(I'm nearing my mid-20s) :p

But, since I have some really lovely writing paper (Original Crown Mill ^_^) and a fountain pen,I felt like doing something special and practice writing vertically and sending one of my penpals a letter that way.

Do you think it would scare my penpal away? Or that they'd end up thinking I'm some stuck up person?:p

This would be the first letter I'd be sending them so....yeah.

ebi brain,

Writing vertically has nothing to do with being formal or informal. I'm sure you've noticed that almost all Japanese manga as well as almost all Japanese novels are written vertically.

That said, more younger people prefer to write horizontally while more older people prefer to write vertically. It's just what they have/had been used to. Nowadays, a lot of people don't even handwrite in the first place, with me on the top of the list.

All in all, I doubt that your pen-pal would be freaked out by you writing Japanese vertically. But I do hope you're talking about Japanese in Japanese letters (kana or kanji). Vertically written English simply is too hard to read if you ask me.

Writing Japanese vertically? I haven't done that in years, I must say :)

Hand-writing letters vertically (currently) would make the letter look formal, because official documents tend to come in that format and letters of certain intentions (such as resignation letters and such) are often written vertically. This would make your letter rather stiff than friendly - and might even make your penpal feel the urge to explain to you that we don't really write personal, friendly letters that way :)

And yes, alongside Uco-san I hope that you are talking about writing Japanese.

Thanks for your replies.
Just to clarify, I wasn't planning on writing in English.：D　I'll make proper use of kanji and kana (and grammar wherever I can :o)!

The reason I wanted to write vertically is because this paper kind of reminds me of the olden days (not really foucsing on a specific country) (even though I haven't experienced these "olden days":p). It kind of invokes this nostalgic feeling. It's this really nice, thick, cream coloured writing paper with an equally nice light pink envelope. lol

And so I thought it would be fitting to write very neatly, in an old fahioned way. and since it's going to be written in Japanese, I thought I might as well write it vertically (kind of treating it like the equivalent of writing with a calligraphy pen in English and sealing the envelope with wax and stuff, if that makes any sense at all).

I think maybe I'll just go for it and ask them if they think it's okay (also explain to them why I'm writing like an old person^_-).

Writing pen-pals is about having fun, right?

But yes, I have noticed novels and such using the vertical style. For someone who is used to reading horizontally from left to right, I think it looks really neat....




.....


and it reminds me of the matrix XD

it would be an interesting experience. in my opinion though, as it is a little formal, it may change your penpal's opinion of you into a little more formal/polite one - that may be ok for you, but if you've been casual and friendly until now it could change the way they talk to you after they get the letter, thinking that you prefer to be conservative and formal in your communication.

just my opinion. it does sound fun to try.

It's kind of amusing to read how you get all excited about that paper. lol

Just go ahead and write the way you want and enjoy it. :)

ebi brain,
I think it's such a lovely gesture. Like you describe, there's nothing nicer than handwritten notes in the this age of emails. The writing in verticals shows cultural appreciation and I'm sure your penpal would appreciate your efforts.

I don't believe it shows any pompousness as you were concerned.