From what I read Japanese text was backwards before the end of WW2. Someone with better knowledge than me can answer it better.
Traditionally, Japanese was written starting from the upper right corner of the page, down the right column, then each new column to the left of the previous one. If each "column" is only one character, that results in right to left.
I wasn't aware of when the Western (left-to-right top-to-bottom) writing order came into vogue in Japan, though the post-war occupation would make sense as a time for it to happen. (I'd been under the impression that it was driven by Western-built digital computers, but maybe those only cemented a shift that was already well established.)
Traditionally, Japanese was written starting from the upper right corner of the page, down the right column, then each new column to the left of the previous one. If each "column" is only one character, that results in right to left.
I wasn't aware of when the Western (left-to-right top-to-bottom) writing order came into vogue in Japan, though the post-war occupation would make sense as a time for it to happen. (I'd been under the impression that it was driven by Western-built digital computers, but maybe those only cemented a shift that was already well established.)
Oh, confused because usually right to left is reserved for columns. I guess technically this could be 4 columns...
