Migi Yokogaki (右横書き)
Japanese Living

for further reading: Wikipedia

For most of its history Japan has written its language vertically. However during the Meiji Period (1868-1912) as more Western influences were entering the country they began to write horizontally. However the initial horizontal writing format was not written from left-to-right as it is today. Instead it followed a right-to-left order. Right-to-left writing was phased out by the time of World War II however.

Pictured here is the old Nintendo headquarters. Looking at their sign closely you can see written in English at the top "Nintendo" while beneath it in Japanese right-to-left order it says "karuta" a type of playing card they were known for manufacturing prior to entering the video game business in the 1980s.

Relevance to MAO

The Milk Hall sign that hangs outside of the cafe Mao frequents is written right-to-left. To modern eyes it would appear to be written backwards. In Ranma 1/2 there are also examples of right-to-left writting typically found around the Tendo Dojo to suggest its long history.