Japan region seeks 'ninjas' for tourism

Wanted: six full-time ninjas who have a way with words and can do backward handsprings. Pay: about $1,600 a month.

Central Japan's Aichi prefecture said it is hiring full-time ninjas -- the martial-arts masters and stealth special assassins of feudal times -- to promote tourism in the area known for historic Nagoya castle.

Newly hired ninjas will receive a one-year contract with monthly pay of 180,000 yen ($1,580) plus bonus, said Satoshi Adachi of the prefectural government's tourism promotion unit.

They will also perform acrobatics, demonstrate the use of their trademark "shuriken" -- ninja star -- weapons and pose for photographs with tourists. A poster the prefecture created says the ideal candidates are ones who "enjoy being under the spotlight even though he or she is a secretive ninja".