{
  "id": 11440889,
  "title": "80% of Japanese support preserving handwriting: survey",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/80-of-japanese-support-preserving-handwriting-survey",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-02T12:30:09.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Mainichi",
    "slug": "the-mainichi",
    "url": "https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20261002/p2g/00m/0na/046000c"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Eighty percent of Japanese people surveyed believe preserving handwriting practice is essential, according to a government survey released Friday. However, about one-third of respondents expressed limited opportunities to engage in handwriting. The Agency for Cultural Affairs discovered that 82.3 percent favored handwritten letters, postcards, or printed materials adorned with handwritten notes. When asked why handwriting should be valued, 70.7 percent cited proper learning of kanji and other characters, while 68.2 percent cited expressing individuality and emotions that printed text cannot convey. These findings indicate that many individuals view handwriting as a crucial means of expressing their unique identity, even as digital devices become ubiquitous, noted an agency official. The survey was conducted nationwide in March and received responses from 3,777 Japanese nationals aged 16 or older. For the first time, the survey inquired about the preservation of Japanese writing in a vertical format, a practice made more common by computers and smartphones. The agency highlighted that Japan's use of both vertical and horizontal text is uncommon globally. Approximately 57.8 percent of respondents supported preserving this practice, 36.0 percent expressed no opinion, and two-thirds encountered vertical text in daily life, predominantly in books and dictionaries. The survey also revealed that 83.1 percent of respondents showed interest in the Japanese language, possibly driven by a desire to engage in language due to the prevalence of digital communication and concerns about online backlash.",
  "summary": "TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A total of 80.4 percent of Japanese respondents support preserving the practice of writing by hand, although about a third said they",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}