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The Origin Of The Matrix's Code Explained

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The Matrix movie title credits show falling green digital code. If you know Japanese, the katakana characters will look familiar, but where did this code actually come from? The man who created the title sequence recently revealed the source: His wife’s Japanese cook book. 

While the falling code is clearly influenced by the Ghost in the Shell opening credits, its creator Simon Whiteley says the design was inspired by cookbooks his wife, who’s from Japan, owned.

“I like to tell everybody that The Matrix’s code is made out of Japanese sushi recipes,” Whiteley told CNET (via Gizmodo Japan). “Without that code, there is no Matrix.”

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Whiteley scanned his wife’s cookbooks, reversed and mixed up the characters to then create the cascading green code. Whoa. 


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