Main image via sportizdorovie.ru
Iga, a small city in Japan, is facing a ninja shortage. That's right, a ninja shortage!
Said to be the birthplace of the ninja, Iga is suffering from depopulation. The mayor, Sakae Okamoto, is hoping to bolster tourism by drawing on the city's ninja heritage. "Right now in Iga, we are working very hard to promote ninja tourism and get the most economic outcome," said the mayor.
Every year, about 30,000 tourists head to Iga to experience the annual ninja festival. "We hold this ninja festival between late April to around the beginning of May. During this period, visitors and also local people come here. Everybody will be dressed like a ninja and walk around and enjoy themselves—but recently I feel that it's not enough," added the mayor.
Image via Nippon
Iga is also losing young people, who don't want to live in the rural countryside. Hoping to revive the local economy and encourage tourists to stay longer in Iga, the mayor is relocating the city hall and building a second ninja museum in its place.
Sugako Nakagawa, the curator of the local ninja museum, told Reuters in 2008, "Ninja is not an inheritable class. Without severe training, nobody could become a ninja. That’s why they have silently disappeared in history."
Image via Business Insider
In an episode of NPR’s “Planet Money” podcast, Sally Herships stated that, "Today, ninjas can earn anything from US$23,000 (RM95,000) to about US$85,000 (RM352,000)—which is a really solid salary, and in fact, a lot more than real ninjas used to earn in medieval Japan.”
So, if you're looking for a job—and one that pays really well, consider applying to be a ninja!
Info via Business Insider and NPR
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