The iconic green code in The Matrix is just sushi recipes

Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

Find out moreClose

In my reporting on women's reproductive rights, I've witnessed the critical role that independent journalism plays in protecting freedoms and informing the public.

Your support allows us to keep these vital issues in the spotlight. Without your help, we wouldn't be able to fight for truth and justice.

Every contribution ensures that we can continue to report on the stories that impact lives

Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

The falling green characters at the beginning of all of the Matrix films have become perhaps the most recognisable visual from the film, signifying how everything in the franchise's universe is a vast fabrication.

So what constitutes the code? An incredibly complex equation? Chopped up passages of Heidegger? Nope, it's just a load of recipes for sushi.

The Matrix production designer Simon Whiteley told CNet of the apparently indecipherable collection of Japanese hiragana, katakana, and kanji characters: "I like to tell everybody that The Matrix's code is made out of Japanese sushi recipes.

"Without that code, there is no Matrix."

Film and TV has a rich history of concealing through translation, Game of Thrones having previously hid a Monty Python line in its Low Valyrian language.

For more film, TV and music, follow Independent Culture on Facebook.