Comment on Manga, Mario and now ninja: Japan's hopes for wooing tourism

Manga, Mario and now ninja: Japan's hopes for wooing tourism

The Japan Ninja Council, a government-backed organization of scholars, tourism groups and businesses, said Wednesday that it's starting a Ninja Academy to train people in the art of ninja, and building a new museum in Tokyo devoted to ninja, set to open in 2018. The first certified product is an origami, or folding paper, for messages shaped like a shuriken, the star-shaped daggers that ninja throw as weapons. Dressed in a black ninja outfit, he stressed that ninja fun is good for business and potentially a big part of the government's "Cool Japan" campaign, which includes animation, video games, food and movies, especially leading up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The council put on a ninja-inspired martial-arts demonstration, in which a muscular actor used rope to ward off, choke and disarm an attacker, and a woman dressed in a mini-ninja outfit did flips to recorded rock music. According to the council, ninja can stare at a burning candle without blinking, frequently massage their ears to stay nimble and never gain weight above 60 kilograms (130 pounds).

 

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