Japan recruiting ninjas for 'warlord tourism'

TOKYO, March 18 (UPI) -- The Japanese prefecture of Aichi is looking for ninjas to help stir tourism in anticipation of the 2020 Olympics.

The prefecture wants six young athletic types between the ages of 18 and 30 to fill a year-long contract for 180,000 Japanese Yen, or about $1,585 a month.

But instead of the historically secretive warriors, Aichi needs people ready to do flips, sword play or give long talks about the legendary mercenaries for radio and television. Sometimes in English.

The six ninja will be used in a tourism campaign for Japan around the time of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

To kickstart the "warlord tourism" campaign, local governor Shigeaki Omura appeared online in a full ninja costume to make his case. The six will be picked soon because the training begins in April.

Ninjas did the work thought beneath the nobility of the samurai in 15th century Japan. The ninja engaged in sabotage, espionage and assassination, among other types of warfare. They gradually disappeared as the country was unified in the 17th Century.