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Yomiuri Shimbun
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Mie: Tourists Can Experience Training As Ninja in Japan's City Said to Be Ninja Hometown
The Yomiuri Shimbun The writer tries his hand at throwing shuriken at Ninja Museum of Igaryu in Iga, Mie Prefecture. IGA, Mie — The word ninja conjures up images of people clad all in black, operating in secret. Many have envisioned them playing a significant part behind the scenes in Japanese history, but their actual activities and lives remain cloaked in mystery. Anime and movies show ninja dramatically vanquishing their enemies with shuriken ninja stars, but how did they really fight? Seeking answers to these questions, I experienced the real ninja world at Ninja Museum of Igaryu in Iga, Mie Prefecture. The Iga region is believed to be one of the birthplaces of ninja. I thought it would be better to get into the mood before entering the ninja world, so I changed into a rental costume at a kimono shop in the city. Walking along the street in my black clothes, foreign tourists shouted 'Ninja!' at me. When they turned their cameras to me, I felt a little shy but was excited. At the museum, I tried my hand at throwing shuriken stars. Curator Chiharu Koda taught me the basics. You may have seen a ninja holding a bunch of shuriken in the palm of one hand, bringing the other palm together horizontally and rubbing them quickly to perform successive shoots. She said that it is only in anime and manga. 'Actually, you have to throw them like you're flinging them down vertically,' Koda said. According to her explanation, real ninja would hold a shuriken star with the thumb and forefinger at a vertical angle, put a foot forward on the opposite side of the dominant hand, and then throw it fully snapping the wrist, like a baseball pitcher throwing a ball. From stones to shuriken Shuriken made of stainless steel are used for the museum's demonstrations. They're the same model used in shuriken throwing contests, Koda said. They were lighter and smaller than I had expected, and a lot of physical power seemed necessary to throw them a long distance. The Yomiuri Shimbun Shuriken knives stick into a wooden target. I made my first throw toward a wooden plate about five meters away. The shuriken hit the target, but didn't stick into the plate, bouncing back instead. 'The knack is not to rely just on power when throwing, but to minimize the rotation and throw straight,' Koda said. I kept trying and finally made the shuriken stick into the plate. When I could hit near the center of the target, I felt like I had become a real ninja. After more practice, I became able to skillfully use my wrist and stick the shuriken into the plate more often. Once I was finished, I asked Koda about the history of shuriken. Many people likely visualize shuriken as cross-shaped, but Koda said they were not that way in the beginning. The Yomiuri Shimbun The writer passes through a dondengaeshi hidden door. Ninja originally used stones or pieces of kawara rooftiles lying on the ground as impromptu weapons during the Sengoku period, late 15th century to 16th century, she said. From the early Edo period in the 17th century, shuriken became more sophisticated in tandem with the development of martial arts, ultimately resulting in cross-shaped shuriken. 'This resulted from martial arts performers pursuing beauty and functionality in peaceful times,' Koda said. Hidden door Next, I visited the Ninja House, a re-creation of the type of house ninja are believed to have lived in. Inside, subtle tricks are installed everywhere to hide ninja's secret skills, such as methods to mix gunpowder and medicines. Kunoichi Suzu, a guide for the house, showed me around. Kunoichi means 'female ninja.' There's a sword hidden in a part of the floor. A wooden plate pops up when you stomp hard on the side of the threshold and a hidden sword appears. Suzu performed the trick, needing only one second to finish drawing the sword. 'Amazing!' I shouted. The Yomiuri Shimbun Kunoichi Suzu draws a sword which was hidden under the floor. Visitors can also experience such tricks as a dondengaeshi hidden door where part of a wall turns to reveal a secret door. I felt like I had wandered into the world of samurai dramas. 'Ninja tend to be depicted as loving battle in anime and movies, but their real duties were collecting information,' Koda said. Actual ninja are believed to have undertaken tasks of secretly collect information on enemies — castle structures, the storage of war supplies and current movements — to minimize the harm to soldiers on their side. Real images to foreigners Last fiscal year, about 115,000 people visited the ninja museum. Inbound foreign tourists numbered about 26,800, or more than 20% of the total. The Yomiuri Shimbun The writer poses riding on mizugumo, believed to have been a ninja tool used to walk on water. Many were from Taiwan, Hong Kong and the United States. Overseas broadcasts of such anime series as 'Nintama Rantaro' and 'Ninja Hattori-kun' have boosted popularity, according to the museum. 'While respecting the images that visitors have in their minds of ninja, I want to present what ninja actually were,' said Koda. I have heard that an old book on ninja skills states that ninja emphasized human relationships and psychology, saying: 'Always smile. Information will come in naturally if you do.' That seems like timeless advice, good for a news reporter too.
Yomiuri Shimbun
02-05-2025
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Visitors Confusing Osaka's Expo '70 Commemorative Park with 2025 Expo Venue; Park Officials Try to Keep Visitors Informed
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The Tower of the Sun at the Expo '70 Commemorative Park in Suita, Osaka Prefecture OSAKA — There have been cases in which tourists trying to visit the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo venue have mistakenly gone to the Expo '70 Commemorative Park in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. To help prevent confusion, the operator of the park is calling for caution through its website, so visitors understand the Expo is being held on Yumeshima Island in Konohana Ward, Osaka. The Yomiuri Shimbun The mistake likely stems from the park having the word 'expo' in its name, since it is the site of the 1970 World Exposition in Osaka. Since the Expo kicked off April 13, there have been several cases a day of visitors mistakenly coming to the park instead of Yumeshima, according to the park operator. Most of the visitors have been foreign tourists or Japanese nationals from outside the Kansai region. The park has also received at least 15 calls a day, some days as many as 60, asking for information on how to purchase Expo tickets. The distance between the Expo venue and the park is about 20 kilometers. A Chinese woman in her 70s who visited Yumeshima in late April said it took her an hour and half to get there from the park as she first went to the latter, adding there were people who made a similar mistake. A 29-year-old Serbian man from Kyoto City who visited the park Thursday said it is easy to confuse them as online search results for the word 'expo' show the park. On Wednesday, the park posted a notice on its website saying that the park is 'not the venue of the Expo.' The same notice was posted at the park's entrance the following day.
Yomiuri Shimbun
23-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Honda NSX Police Car Debuts in Mie Prefecture; To be Used for Highway Patrol
The Yomiuri Shimbun The donated Honda NSX police car on Monday at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture. A Honda NSX police car, known as a luxury sports car, was donated to the Mie Prefectural Police on Monday. It will be assigned to the highway patrol unit and used for publicity and education, as well as for traffic enforcement on highways. The donor is a 43-year-old man from Kusatsu, Shiga Prefecture, who works in the real estate industry. At the donation ceremony held Monday at Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, the man explained his motivation, saying, 'When I saw various sports car-type police cars, I thought that having such a police car would bring joy to more people.' He enjoys watching races at Suzuka Circuit and driving on the circuit, and owns multiple sports cars. The donated vehicle is the second-generation Honda NSX. According to the Mie Prefectural Police, this is the first time this model has been used as a police car nationwide. The total cost, including modification expenses, is approximately ¥25 million.
