Question

Japanese speaker?
I'm confused--in Japanese, many words have both a hiragana and kanji form. Do Japanese speakers simply alternate between both when writing based on their personal preference or are there specific circumstances under which to use either hiragana or kanji?
For example, "I" can either be written as "わたし" or as "私."
ありがと!

Answer 1

yes Japanese speakers simply alternate between both when writing based on their personal preference or are there specific circumstances under which to use either hiragana or kanji

Answer 2

If you look at song lyrics, most words are written in kanji, only adverbs usually appear in hiragana only.

Personal pronouns are usually written:
私 watashi
君 kimi
僕 boku
but あなた anata

It seems every writer does want he/she wants.

Answer 3

Thanks guys :) In the past I assumed that most Japanese speakers prefer kanji whenever possible and I guess that's partially correct.