# 'Cloverfield' movie site: Japanese translation help? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297 "2007-10-11T02:14:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/1 "2007-10-11T02:14:41Z")
Anybody remember [Cloverfield](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/), the new J.J. Abrams movie? Up on the [website](http://www.1-18-08.com/), there are a bunch of “pictures”–Polaroid shots–out of order; you play around with them and not a lot happens. I just visited it, and there’s a new picture on top. All the others are pictures at a party or after some sort of horrible disaster, and all of them have timestamps; this one doesn’t–it’s of a chef standing next to an oven, beaming manically, holding out a pan of some sort of cooked noodles. O… kay. But if you play around with this picture, it flips over and you get [this](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/tigereye001/what-1.jpg) on the back. Can anybody tell me what it says? I _think_ it’s Korean, but I have no idea… ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/2 "2007-10-11T02:24:39Z")
I don’t read either language, but I’m pretty sure that’s Japanese. I’ve seen examples of the Asian languages, and that looks more to me Japanese than Chinese or Korean. Based on what you said is on the front and the way the text is set up, I’m guessing it might be a recipe. ---
**Author:** ![Khadro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Khadro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadro)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/3 "2007-10-11T02:51:51Z")
it’s definitely Japanese, but I don’t know the actual words, just the characters. If we ask a mod to add something to the subject regarding that, it might help get some better answers. Or, we could look online, but then we’d be paying the mods for nothing. EDIT: Looking into it a bit more, it seems to be a recipe. I can see that it asks for 1/2 a cup of shiitake mushrooms, for one thing, and 10 ounces presumably of a noodle type thing, given the picture. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/4 "2007-10-11T03:01:48Z")
I’m thinking it’s a recipe, too. I can spot some Roman numerals in there: 1/2, for example. It looks sort of like hiragana, and I’ve been able to pick out a few symbols, but nothing concrete… ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/5 "2007-10-11T03:09:30Z")
[QUOTE=Khadro] it’s definitely Japanese, but I don’t know the actual words, just the characters. If we ask a mod to add something to the subject regarding that, it might help get some better answers. Or, we could look online, but then we’d be paying the mods for nothing. EDIT: Looking into it a bit more, it seems to be a recipe. I can see that it asks for 1/2 a cup of shiitake mushrooms, for one thing, and 10 ounces presumably of a noodle type thing, given the picture. [/QUOTE] (Preview is my friend…) I’ve emailed a mod about the thread title change. Can you tell anything else? I took a screenshot, but the writing is so small and squinty… ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/6 "2007-10-11T03:16:55Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] Anybody remember [Cloverfield](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/), the new J.J. Abrams movie? Up on the [website](http://www.1-18-08.com/), there are a bunch of “pictures”–Polaroid shots–out of order; you play around with them and not a lot happens. [/QUOTE] What is the odd sound effect? ---
**Author:** ![Khadro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Khadro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadro)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/7 "2007-10-11T03:33:32Z")
Sorry, that’s about all I got. I have not actively used my Japanese for more than 10 years… and the smallness of that text is getting me a little confused with some of the characters… and I never learned that many Kanji, so it’s really hard to get a flow of words sorted out. One of the words is “kureson” which I found is watercress, and kabura, which is japanese turnip. The noodle I mentioned looks like it says “soumen”, which I assume is simply a different type of noodle. Oh, and apparently it’s delicious 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_of\_the\_Felines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/b5e925/32.png) [@Queen\_of\_the\_Felines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_of_the_Felines)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/8 "2007-10-11T04:29:50Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] What is the odd sound effect? [/QUOTE] It’s supposedly the roar of the movie’s monster. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/9 "2007-10-11T04:44:04Z")
It’s a [somen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somen) recipe. Here’s a rough translation: > [@](#): > > Thank you for looking! I’ll now introduce this week’s delicious dish. > Make sure to refrigerate it! > > - skinless chicken breast two halves > - somen 10 ounces > - watercress 1/2 cup, cut into strips > - turnip 1/2 cup, thinly sliced > - shiitake 1/2 cup > - chicken stock 1/3 cup > - sake 2 tablespoons > - sugar 1/2 teaspoon > - kaitei no mitsu\* 1 pinch > > \*No idea what that is, maybe a brand name. Means something like “nectar of the sea” > > Mix the chicken stock, sake, sugar, and 1/3 cup of water in a small saucepan. Bring it to a boil, then cool it until it’s cool. Grill both sides of the chicken breasts for 8 minutes each then refrigerate them. Cook the somen in boiling water for 3 minutes, then place it in cold water until the noodles are cool. Scatter the watercress, turnip, and shiitake aroud the somen. Thinly slice the chicken breasts then place them in a fan-shape on top of the somen. Just before adding the kaitei no mitsu, add it to the sauce, then sprinkle it liberally. > > Go for it, delicious chef! > > #3912 ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/10 "2007-10-11T05:32:04Z")
Holy moley, the number of sites promoting this movie’s backstory that have been seeded around the internet is mind boggling. Multiple MySpace pages, bogus corporations… is there even a movie at the bottom of all this? What could possibly justify all this noise? I want to see the cast of _Friends_ get eaten by hellbeasts as much as the next guy, but this is a little ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/11 "2007-10-11T06:12:33Z")
By the way, if you Google for 海底の蜜 (deep sea nectar) all you get are Japanese bloggers wondering what that might be after seeing the web page linked to by the op. The use of ounces is also unusual, as almost no one in Japan knows what an ounce is. However, following a lead in a 2channel thread on the movie lead me to [this site](http://www.slusho.jp/). It’s apparently a viral advertisement for the movie. Going to the “history” section at least partly elucidates the question of what the sea-bottom nectar is. Also in flavors: “The beginning of each SLUSHO is the deep sea ingredient.” ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/12 "2007-10-11T08:31:49Z")
The recipe is a translation from English, which can be told not only from the use of ounces but also the directions are not how a native would write them. At least, they’re not how my curry packages read. 😉 There’s also another new [web site](http://www.tagruato.jp/index2.php) which shows the parent company of Slusho. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/13 "2007-10-11T11:45:50Z")
If there is anything Cloverfield related then [then you will find it on this guy’s site](http://cloverfieldclues.blogspot.com/). He has the translation of the recipe and links to all the other related sites that have been found so far. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/14 "2007-10-11T18:09:23Z")
[QUOTE=tanstaafl] If there is anything Cloverfield related then [then you will find it on this guy’s site](http://cloverfieldclues.blogspot.com/). He has the translation of the recipe and links to all the other related sites that have been found so far. [/QUOTE] A lot of these clues look like they point toward a (no doubt CGI’d-up) remake of **The Stuff**. If that turns out to be the case, I’ll be kind of disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/15 "2007-10-11T18:19:35Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] A lot of these clues look like they point toward a (no doubt CGI’d-up) remake of **The Stuff**. If that turns out to be the case, I’ll be kind of disappointed. [/QUOTE] There’s a couple of theories floating around out there: that it’s a remake of _Godzilla_ (can’t be, Sony / Toro still owns the rights), a remake of \*The Host \* (Universal’s doing that one, not Paramount), some sort of tie-in with \*Lost \* (possibly; the big smoke cloud in the trailer between the buildings and the roaring sound do resemble the Smoke Monster), or a Cthulhu movie (would be insanely cool if true). **Terrifel** , that’s true–but the trailer still shows a Really Big Thing (“I saw it! It’s alive! It’s huge!”) roaring really loud and taking down two major New York landmarks, and I dunno if zombies can do that. I still think it’s something else. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/16 "2007-10-11T18:20:44Z")
[QUOTE=cckerberos] It’s a [somen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somen) recipe. Here’s a rough translation: [/QUOTE] Were I wearing any socks (I have sandals on currently), you would be rocking them. Thank you! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/17 "2007-10-11T18:35:17Z")
[QUOTE=TokyoPlayer] There’s also another new [web site](http://www.tagruato.jp/index2.php) which shows the parent company of Slusho. [/QUOTE] I wrote to them at the contact e-mail, and am waiting for my robot reply. Any of our Japanese Dopers want to call TEL +81-3-5403-6318 and see what it says? ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/18 "2007-10-11T21:36:43Z")
[SPECULATION ON] Kind of a guided rohrschach, but from the Tagruato site I think they awaken the monster under their new deepsea construction/drilling station in the Atlantic. Either that or they accidentally create giant mutant sea creatures by harvesting the deepsea nectar (deepsea nectar spill)… or the deepsea nectar is Cthullu’s blood or a byproduct of his eldritch mass awake for aeons (like the spice being a product of sandworm ecology in Dune). Regardless the deepsea nectar sounds bioactive, psychoreactive, addictive, and bad juju all around. But for the irony, I believe their selfsame deepsea engineering technology is also the solution to the monster. I think Tagruato will incorporate their existing deepsea engineering technology into a giant battlemech or team of battlemechs like the [Shogun warriors](http://wildtoys.com/Shogun/index.asp) to defeat the monster, in the ultimate example of corporate responsibility (we caused the ecological disaster and we will clean it up). [/SPECULATION OFF] ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/19 "2007-10-11T21:51:02Z")
My best advice is… DON’T DRINK THE SLUSHO! (Don’t drink the korporate kool-aid.) ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297/20 "2007-10-11T22:51:16Z")
Also, a simply deduced fact and maybe an important plot point gleaned from the clues-- [Deepsea Nectar (Kaitei No Mitsu)](http://www.menuism.com/restaurants/bKTPlaARWr3lUXaby-Gaa7-garbanzos-) is only viable and effective as a bioagent if it is cold. It seems its reactive properties are only viable in a cold delivery. It is harvested from the extreme cold and high pressure, abyssmal depths of the ocean and should only be used chilled, as a culinary ingredient. Its known delivery methods- [ul][_]Slusho - SLUSHO! YUMMO! (Slurpee knockoff- but Slusho! is the ultimate brain freeze)[_]Cold rice salad with water chestnuts and artichokes (with elements of Hippopotamus God delusions- SET and AMMUT, anybody?)[_]Chilled poached salmon steak alongside chilled asparagus in mustard vinaigrette (with a side of Neptune delusions)[_]Chilled strawberry white wine soup (Cthullu tentacle envy for dessert)[\*]A picture of a Maniacal Happy Japanese Chef Guy showing a sheet pan of deepseaspew straight from the freezer with a cold, chicken, mushroom, seacrack, and noodle soup recipe on the back[/ul] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cloverfield-movie-site-japanese-translation-help/422297.md?page=2)