The convention of manga being read from right to left stems from an old form of Japanese writing – takegaki – in which symbols are written top to bottom and from right to left. This norm is still used in some situations, such as with handwritten text. Many works of fiction in Japanese continue to be read this way.  Non-fiction or technical literature uses a more modern writing system – yokogaki – which is written in the familiar horizontal format. Even as horizontal writing became the norm, the right-left system of takegaki remains extant in manga.