Everyone knows that Japan is the ‘Florida of the East’, and the daily river of ‘WTF’ news that flows out of Japan is simultaneously shocking yet expected. It’s as if everything that happens in Japan is so weird it makes you scratch your head, but at the same time we’ve come to expect this from Japan so we just take it all on stride.
That’s why I wasn’t exactly floored when I saw this job listing, but at the same time I had to take a minute and think about the fact that Japanese tourism officials just put up a job listing seeking to hire ninjas to promote ‘warlord tourism’.
The roles are full time and the pay is ¥180,000 ($1,600; £1,100) a month, the job ad says (in Japanese).
Physical fitness and acrobatic skills are a must says Aichi prefecture, which hopes to promote “warlord tourism”.Ideal candidates should “enjoy being under the spotlight even though he or she is a secretive ninja,” Satoshi Adachi of the prefecture’s tourism promotion unit, told AFP.
As the troupe will sometimes perform in English, Japanese language skills are preferred rather than essential, Mr Adachi said, although a passion for history and tourism is a requirement.
Training is also a little quicker these days: winning applicants will be up to speed in the arts of wooing tourists with back flips and sword play by the end of April.
If this was you, I think you should apply for this job:
Unfortunately I haven’t brushed up on my Japanese in a few months, so I’ll have to go with screenshots from Google Chrome’s translation instead of posting a word-for-word translation of this weird AF job listing (in Japanese):
I’m guessing that something’s lost in translation here, but I also hope that one of you bros can fill me in on what the ‘horn collection period’ is? Are they looking for some horns from a certain era to put on display alongside the new ‘Warlord Tourism’ exhibition? Or is that a botched translation that’s referring to the block of time that the’ll be looking to hire the ninjas and get them up to speed?
Anyways, if you’re looking to make $1,600/month, which I’m pretty sure isn’t even a living wage in Japan, then I highly suggest you pursue your lifelong dream of becoming a ninja in Japan. You can find a link to the job listing above, or you can follow the link above and click on over to BBC Asia for more information if you’re still on the fence about throwing ninja stars as a career path. And for more information on ninjas you should click this link (the page is in Japanese though).
This could be you: