What writing neatly means in Japan

What does "writing neatly" mean to you?

Doesn't mean much? Never cared? Or maybe you love writing neatly.

It depends on the individuals, doesn't it?

In Japan, writing neatly has the very positive meanings. 

 "Neat writing is a kindness for those who read it.""An excellent business man writes neatly."

"Your neat hand-writing shows your excellence."

Not all the Japanese natives write neatly, of course.

But because we know those notions, we think it's an ideal if you could write neatly. We also know that writing messily is considered as a bad manner for those who is going to read your message. 

I know that writing Japanese beautifully is not easy.

Do you know Shodo 書道? Shodo is a process of mastering the beautiful writing, which means, writing beautifully is not something that we can all do instantly.

It is like playing the piano beautifully, or playing the football so well. 

So, you think you don't need to "master" writing because you are just a learner?

You don't.  You don't need to write like a calligrapher.

I can't write like those calligraphers 書道家 you see on the Instagram.

But I think it's nice to know what is the correct shapes of Japanese characters, what shapes you should aim for, and that Japanese people think that being able to write "neatly" (not beautifully or perfectly) is a great advantage to show yourself positively in this society.

 And the Japanese people know that trying to write neatly is an excellent attitude and we can tell you're trying to write neatly when we see your hand-writing.