[TinyRedLeaf]

Wannabe ninja plague Japan town after viral-news mix-up

Tokyo (July 25, 2018): A Japanese city has been fighting off wannabe ninja, after a news report on local labour shortages appeared to suggest that it wanted to hire more of the traditional assassins.

The western city of Iga was featured in a report by American radio station NPR this month about Japan's depopulation and labour-shortage problems.

The report said Iga is trying to capitalise on its history as the home of the ninja, by building a new museum focused on the warriors, but it was struggling to hire staff, including ninja performers.

In its report, NPR said ninja performers in Japan can earn anywhere between US$23,000 to US$85,000 a year. But a number of copycat reports by other media or viral sites went with less nuanced headlines such as: "This town in Japan will pay you an $85,000 salary to train as a ninja."

By Wednesday (July 25), at least 115 aspiring assassins had contacted the city and its local tourism association, puzzling local officials.

They said would-be warriors from at least 14 countries had been in touch.

Iga city said on its website that it "didn't put out information about 'a lack of ninja in Iga' or the 'annual income of ninja'".

The city also tried to squelch the hopes of applicants by issuing statements in Japanese, English and three other languages.

It warned them to "be careful of fake news".

AFP