A small Japanese town faces a shortage of ninja – even though the salary is $ 85,000

• The Iga city in Japan is suffering from a shortage of ninja.
• The city, which is 280 miles from Tokyo in central Japan, claims to be the birthplace of the ninja.
• In 1965, there are not enough ninjas.

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You may have heard about the demographic crisis in Japan, but the country is facing another, less known crisis. In an episode of NPR's "Planet Money" podcast, Sally Herships visited Iga, a small town in central Japan claiming to be the cradle of the ninja.

] Each year, the city of about 100,000 inhabitants inflates about 30,000 tourists. the annual ninja festival.

Unfortunately, Iga suffers from depopulation. "There is a shortage of these two essential things for the economy to keep humming: things to sell and people to buy," says Stacey Vanek Smith, Hership Cohort

. I want to live in the countryside: "They want life in the big city like Tokyo or Yokohama."

In order to revive the local economy, Iga Mayor, Sakae Okamoto, promotes his ninja legacy in goal

"Right now at Iga, we are working very hard to promote ninja tourism and get the most economical result.For example, we are organizing this ninja festival between late April and early May. During this period, The visitors and locals come here.Nikja and walks around and has fun – but recently, I think Okamoto tells Hership

Japan is currently experiencing a major tourism boom – the World Tourism Organization of Japan. United Nations (UNWTO) estimates that nearly 29 million tourists visited Japan in 2017. This represents an increase of nearly 20% compared to

While some cities benefit economically from the influx of tourists, rural areas like Iga apparently are not.

In the hope of encouraging tourists to stay longer than a day in Iga, Mayor Okamoto is moving out and construction is taking place. a second museum Although the budget is not disclosed, Okamoto has received funds from the central government of the public – "The Japanese government is funding ninjas," says Herships.

The project faces obstacles, however. Iga must attract the labor force to work and live in the rural city as the ninja tourism regime is expanded.

This means not only builders and planners. ninjas themselves. "There is a shortage of ninjas," says Herships, "or, to be precise, a shortage of ninja artists."

This question is particularly difficult given the extremely low unemployment rate of Japan, which is only 2.5%

. Hard to find workers in Japan, let alone highly specialized ninjas.

"Ninja is not a hereditary clbad: without rigorous training, no-one could become ninja, that's why they silently disappeared into history" Sugako Nakagawa, curator of the Ninja Local Museum , told Reuters in 2008.

"But this job has a lot to offer," says Herships. "First and foremost, the salary is pretty competitive, nowadays, ninjas can earn $ 23,000 to $ 85,000, which is a really solid salary, and actually much more than real ninjas at the beginning. Medieval Japan. " [19659009] Herships quotes the International Center for Ninja Research, which states that at Iga, the typical ninja earned between $ 8,000 and $ 17,000 a year – adjusted wages for inflation.

Mayor Okamoto faces a difficult battle. Mie Prefecture (the prefecture where Iga is located) attracted 43 new young residents last year, while Iga lost 1,000 inhabitants.

If the ninjas want to save the crisis of depopulation in Japan, they would do better to act quickly