Watch the video "Why do Japanese need hieroglyphs?"
It turns out, they write, if horizontally, then from left to right, and if from top to bottom, then the columns from right to left. And they have no gaps. Probably did not invent the appropriate hieroglyph.
Functionally, the gap belongs to the signs of intersection.
The GOST defines the gap as follows: "letters reproducible in the absence of drawing".