Why are numbers written like `２０２０` and not `2020`?
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2020-02-02T01:51:49.807
74192
2020-02-02T04:54:41.820
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question
typesetting
Writing digits in Japanese
Kanji on average fill a roughly square space and tend to be most readable in
monospace. So in Japanese typesetting when kanji is the predominant character
set, you will usually see a monospace font full of roughly square glyphs.
Latin alphabet characters and Arabic numerals look a little odd in this
context.

Arabic numbers used in this context are also replacing their kanji
equivalents. So, although the Arabic glyph is used, culturally they are not
being used exactly as the western world uses them. Meaning, the perspective is
that "2020" is four distinct characters that come together to have meaning.
Rather than "2020" forming the equivalent of a word with a numeric value. The
result is the same. But if you start out viewing them as separate characters,
you may not want to make the font fit together graphically as a single word.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-02-02T04:54:41.820
74197
2020-02-02T04:54:41.820
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74192
answer