Japan is ramping up its ‘ninja tourism’ offerings by building a dedicated museum devoted to the secretive samurai spies.
A Ninja academy is also being opened to woo tourists interested in learning the ancient techniques of ‘ninjutsu’ martial arts.
It is the brainchild of the Japan Ninja Council which is a grouping of scholars, ninja schools and tourism officials keen to promote it to a wider audience.
Special tours to regions steeped in ninja history such as Iga, will also launch.
"The art of ninja is made up of various elements, such as combat, survival techniques and astronomy. We hope this will appeal to people all over the world," said Jinichi Kawakami, a master of the Koga ninja school.
It is part of the government backed ‘Cool Japan’ campaign which also promotes J-pop, food, anime video gaming and other areas of popular Japenese culture.
A year ago tourism officials in Aichi prefecture made headlines when they were swamped with applications from overseas for advertised ‘ninja ambassadors’ to promote tourism in the region.
