Tategaki
Write in columns, the way Japanese is written on paper.
Japanese has been written in vertical columns for centuries, top to bottom and right to left, and novels, newspapers and letters are still set that way. Kokoro Nikki lets you keep your diary like that: Japanese goes into columns as you type, and your Japanese entries open in columns when you read them.
How to turn it on
Turn on Tategaki in Settings. From then on, a 横 | 縦 selector sits next to the microphone wherever you write: on the Write screen, in the sheet that opens from the home screen, and when you edit an entry. 横 is horizontal and 縦 is vertical.
The first time you turn it on, a short video shows how it works.
Other languages stay horizontal
A diary is rarely in one language only. With 縦 on, whatever you type with the Japanese keyboard goes into columns, and whatever you type with another keyboard sits on the same page as a horizontal passage. Switch back to Japanese and the columns return.
There is nothing to toggle as you go. The keyboard you are using decides.
Reading in columns
Your Japanese entries also open in vertical columns, read from right to left. Any entry can be switched between columns and lines from its own page.
Why columns, in a diary
A column of characters has a different presence on the page from a line of text. It is how letters, poems and diaries were written by hand in Japan, and for someone who writes in Japanese it can make the screen feel less like a form and more like paper.
Before you use it
Columns are for Japanese text. English, Spanish and the other journal languages stay horizontal.
The app's own voice recording does not write in columns. The dictation built into your keyboard does.
Like everything that writes in the journal, writing in columns needs a subscription. Without one, your entries stay readable, and Japanese entries can still be read in columns.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is tategaki?
Traditional Japanese vertical writing: characters run top to bottom in columns, and the columns run from right to left. In Kokoro Nikki it applies to Japanese text.
Can I mix Japanese and another language in the same entry?
Yes. Japanese typed with the Japanese keyboard goes into columns, and text typed with another keyboard stays on the same page as a horizontal passage. The keyboard decides, so there is no switch to remember.
Does voice journaling work in vertical mode?
The app's own voice recording does not write in columns. The dictation built into your keyboard does.
Do I need a subscription?
To write, yes, as with every other way of writing in the journal. Without one, your entries stay readable, and Japanese entries can still be read in columns.
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