Nagoya, April 28 2017 (Friday) - A meeting held today at the Aichi Prefecture Civic Reception House (Aichi-ken Kokan) marked the first official meeting between the new Aichi Ninjas and Governor Omura. The meeting came after the recruitment campaign and following auditions carried out in order to chose this year’s substitution members.
The ninja team is part of Aichi Prefecture’s efforts in promoting the tourism industry of the region, according to the “Samurai Tourism” being touted as one of the policies of the current prefectural government.
As tradition demands, Governor Omura wore the ninja garment that became his trademark in appearances related to the Ninja & Samurai Tourism promotion activities.
Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai member Tokugawa Ieyasu, mentor of the new ninja team, opened the meeting with his peculiar speech spoken in archaic Japanese.
During the meeting, the governor highlighted the importance of the work d
one by the ninja team in the efforts put into promoting the tourism of the prefecture, and bade them the best of luck in their new journey.
Also present in the meeting was Japanese history researcher and professor at Mie University, Mr. Yuji Yamada, PhD, a specialist in ninja history acting as supervisor of Aichi Government’s Ninja Tourism Promotion program.
After the greetings and speeches, the team demonstrated part of their acrobatic performance routine.
The members of the 2017 Hattori Hanzo and The Ninjas team are:
-Emi Yamada (continuing her role as Suiren from 2016)
-Toshiki Ikoma (continuing his role as Sanpei from 2016)
-Takahiro Okada (as the new Hattori Hanzo)
-Shuri Nakatsu (as new ninja Rin)
-Kankuro Watanabe (as new ninja Nanashi)
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