Japanese blogger あとみ Atomi (@yumekomanga) conveys humorous and interesting episodes from her daily life in the form of manga. Since she works as a supermarket clerk, her experiences feature prominently in her posts.

One day, she was in the prepared foods section of the supermarket when she was suddenly asked about one of the products in English...

Reproduced with permission from あとみ Atomi (@yumekomanga)

She wanted to tell the customer that it was a squid, but she couldn't come up with the English word for it, so she said the only thing that came to her mind: "Kraken!"

For those who are unfamiliar with it, the Kraken is a legendary giant sea monster that was believed to appear off the coasts of Norway. It is often portrayed as a squid-like creature and is commonly believed to have been inspired by sightings of the giant squid.

Atomi must have seen a picture of a squid-like Kraken before, so it was the best approximation she could give.

The foreign customers burst into laughter at the clerk's unexpected answer! Although they surely didn't believe it was a real Kraken, the customer who asked the question must have had an adventurous nature, since they ended up buying the fried squid in the end!

The episode elicited numerous comments, such as:

  • "It's amazing that Kraken came up! It's true that "squid" is not an English word that most Japanese people know."
  • "I had to look up "squid" in my English-Japanese dictionary. I'll be sure to remember it now."
  • "I didn't even know what a Kraken is... If it were me, I wouldn't have even come up with that."

It was a creative way of explaining the product, and even if "Kraken" wasn't the perfect translation, at least it cracked up those foreign customers and put a smile on their faces.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.