Like with other Asian languages, there are formality levels. Ryukyuan languages also are pitch-accent based like Japanese.

The traditional way of writing is using mixed kanji and hiragana. Though because there are not a lot of existing texts or a standardized writing system, exactly how much kanji and where you use it is somewhat unclear.

Writing Ryukuan languages in only katakana (or only hiragana) has become common in modern times, but isn’t correct. It's useful for quickly understanding pronunciation, but the "only katakana" method in particular can be problematic due to katakana's use in Japanese as a way of depicting "foreign speak," and creating a sense of unnaturalness or othering. For this reason, katakana should only be used for loan words like in Japanese.

Ryukyuan languages have fairly small lexicons. Many kanji-based words have significantly different meanings from what they do in Japanese.