Monday 25 April 2016

Japan seeks full-time ‘ninjas’ for warlord tourism

Japan’s Aichi prefecture is looking to hire six ninjas – the martial arts masters and stealth special assassins of feudal times, in a bid to boost tourism.

The roles are full time with a one-year contract and the pay is ¥180,000 ($1,600; £1,100) a month as per the job ad. Successful applicants will be performing in Nagoya Castle and various other locations. They will also perform acrobatics, demonstrate the use of their trademark shuriken – ninja star – weapons and pose for photographs with tourists.

Physical fitness and acrobatic skills are a must for Ninjas to promote “warlord tourism”.

The ideal candidates should be happy to be under the spotlight even being a secretive ninja. As the troupe will sometimes perform in English, Japanese language skills are preferred rather than essential, along with a passion for history and tourism.

Ninjas were 15th Century Japanese mercenaries specialising in espionage, assassination, sabotage and other forms of irregular warfare. It was in fact considered beneath the samurai, or military nobility, who had to observe strict rules on fighting honourably.

Nowadays ninjas are mostly confined to history books and fiction. But they are also used to promote Iga, some 350km south-west of Tokyo, a city near the ancient imperial capital of Kyoto that was once home to many ninjas.

Successful candidates will go through a month’s training course and the winning applicants will be up to speed in the arts of wooing tourists with back flips and sword play by the end of April.

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