How Japan plans to use ninjas to boost 2020 Olympics tourism (article)

By Danielle Demetriou, Tokyo
9:55AM BST 12 Oct 2015

As the 2020 Olympics countdown continues, officials tap into the global appeal of ninja to attract tourists to Japan, with the launch of a new organisation devoted to the nocturnal mercenaries.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/11925866/How-Japan-plans-to-use-ninjas-to-boost-2020-Olympics-tourism.html

Meticulously trained and always dressed in black, they famously ventured out under night skies in order to scale walls, clamber across rooftops and silently assassinate.
Now, in 21st century Japan, the nation’s famed and feared ninja have a slightly less dangerous new mission: to help bolster tourism in the run-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
A new national organisation has been created devoted to all things ninja, in a bid to promote the nation’s ancient mercenaries to a new generation of overseas visitors.

The first body of its kind, the new organisation brings together officials from across Japan, including five key prefectures famed for their ninja heritage – Kanagawa, Nagano, Mie, Shiga and Saga.
It aims to bolster tourism in Japan as the countdown to the 2020 Olympics gathers pace, creating a unified source of information via a new English and Japanese language website, relating to ninja sights, activities and attractions across the country.

Highlights are expected to include listings of nationwide events relating to activities taking place on February 22, which is national Ninja Day in Japan.

“We want this to lead to a nation of kinship and a huge cultural boom,” Eikei Suzuki, the governor of Mie, told a press conference, according to Kyodo News.

Since the feudal era, ninja have long played a prominent role in Japan’s history, operating as covert mercenaries with expert stealth skills relating to espionage, sabotage and assassination.

The appeal of ninja has not been confined to history books. Their nocturnal antics – from using iron climbing claws and throwing star-shaped “shurikan” weapons – have also been immortalised culturally in countless films, books, comics and computer games.