Japan says it's not recruiting ninjas, after reports it was hiring

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Stunned officials in Iga, a Japanese city which styles itself as the birthplace of ninjas, were forced to clarify that they were not recruiting ninjas, following reports claiming the city was facing a shortage of ninjas, and were recruiting for the role with salaries up to 85,000 US dollars.

The central Japanese city has received more than 115 inquiries from all over the world after a US radio broadcaster wrongly reported a “ninja shortage” in the city. However, the mayor of the city announced in a statement that they were not officially hiring ninja, so “please be careful about fake news”!

The mix-up began with an inaccurate report by National Public Radio (NPR), an American-based media outlet. NPR's Planet Money program reported on July 16 that in Iga, ninjas can earn between 23,000 and 85,000 US dollars (2.55 million yen and 9.45 million yen) a year. The report said the city is struggling to recruit professional ninjas.

Journalist Sally Herships said that Iga would build a second ninja museum, but faces a labor shortage: “There is a ninja shortage, or to be accurate, a ninja-performer shortage.”

She added that ninja performers in Japan could earn between 23,000 and 85,000 US dollars a year, although she did not mention the immediate vacancy for ninjas currently.

The podcast of NPR saying Iga is facing shortage of ninjas./ Photo via BBC

The report quickly circulated on social media sites. By July 23, the city's government and tourist association had reportedly received more than 115 emails and phone calls from all over the world, including the US, Italy, India and Japan.

As a result, the city's major, Sakae Okamoto, had to call a news conference on July 24 to deny what was written in the story. The announcement was also published on the city government's website on the same day.

The announcement of Iga city, classifying that they are not hiring ninjas./CGTN Screenshot

According to Reuters, tourism strategy official Motoyoshi Shimai said most of the questions were related to whether they were really hiring. “There were a few that begged us to employ them and tried to promote themselves,” said Shimai.

The city government actually doesn't employ any ninja performers or actual ninjas. It's private companies that offer ninja shows and the Ninja Museum is operated by the tourist association.

An official from the tourist association said that the annual salary mentioned in the report was “unrealistic.”

NPR later said its story may have been misunderstood. According to BBC, an NPR spokesman said “that characterization was incorrect. After the story was posted online, portions of the story may have been misconstrued on social media or abridged in other media outlets."