American becomes Japan's first salaried foreign ninja

will receive a one-year contract and earn a monthly salary of 180,000 yen

Minimum wage warrior

@sensei258. Plus benefits! ... Ku no jo maybe? Ninjas with benefits?

It says plus bonuses. I have to guess those are the typical Japanese bonuses. If he has a full time vs part time contract, they would also have to pay his health insurance, and maybe his pension, but I can't tell from this article.

American Ninja! reminds me of the movie. Hope he has better moves than dudikoff!

He'll be getting 120K yen in the hand-he'll need a few contracts from a few warlords to up that......

even though it pays 180k. It's his decision to take the offer. No one put a gun to his head.

No arguments there. It's got to be a fun job, and it probably opens a lot of doors for future opportunities. We'll probably see him on TV later.

way under paid, back flips not easy and could hurt yourself by doing it daily.

Need for TV shows yes ! Bilingual, he should earn at least double !

O’Neill will work alongside six Japanese colleagues, including five men and one woman.

Aichi Prefecture in central Japan had been seeking six full-time ninja—the covert martial arts masters and agents of sabotage who prowled the shadows in feudal times—and in a job posting last month said candidates of any nationality were welcome. Of the 235 applicants eager to don the black costume of the deadly denizens of the night, an astonishing 85% were foreigners, and 29-year-old Chris O’Neill impressed so much during auditions that officials created an extra spot just for him.

So still they hired all Japanese and made an extra position for a gaijin... I know they don't have to hire gaijin but some of us are actually born here.....yet still get called gaijin.

Wow what an embarrassing salary.

I wonder what sort of bonuses he will be getting; 180,000 a month is unlivable unless in poverty

It may be an embarrassing salary for Americans but reasonable for the Japanese standard.

Considering there's an air of mystery about ninja why make the salary public?

Anyway, congratulations to Mr O'Neill and Aichi Tourism.

reasonable? are you kidding? If you live with your parents maybe....

hope they not fight against poverty....

180,000 yen month, he may need to actually use his skills as an assassin to make any real cash. but at least hes getting paid for doing what he loves, not many people in Japan can claim to that

The Tokyo-based American “will be Japan’s first salaried, full-time ninja paid by a local municipality

His tax guy is gona have fun with that W-2 form.

Wc626:His tax guy is gona have fun with that W-2 form. Not a problem. IRS (USA) deals with foreign income sources all the time. Does Japan have an equivalent to the W4? That's the form the employer uses to report employment status and several different forms of withholding to the IRS. Also, that $20K (US) salary puts him in the Obamacare reporting range but ineligible for Earned Income Credit (EIC) due to foreign residence. That last part may require some advice from a professional. In any case, congratulations for earning that spot.

Yeah, I thought of the American Ninja movie series too. I can't stand them now TBH ever since I played the first Tenchu game on the PS. I would take a Bruce Lee film over those any day.

Can't look at this guy seriously without thinking about those films... because, well... He's an actual American ninja... Sigh.

Try the Sho Kosugi moves granted he is a Karate-ka but his sons are quiet famous too in Japan. A friend was an extra in the 1st movie.

My favorite song from' Pray for Death':

https://youtu.be/GfOp3Fh1oog

Of course all the Ninja and MA movies are so much hogwash with most actors never having trained in MA.

One of the final fight scenes with Chuck Norris took 3 weeks of rehearsals and each move was choreographed to look good on the screen.

Most true MA doing movies like Jet Li are the same all choreographed, granted he did study my style of Tai Chi as it is very easily recognised.

I don't see why everyone is being so negative about the salary. Money isn't everything. When you grow old, I can assure you that you won't be reminiscing fondly about how big your paychecks used to be. You'll probably be regreting all the opportunities you never pursued because you refused to take a pay cut.

Is he Bujinkan, Genbukan, etc certified, I know Hatsumi San now calls his teaching Taijutsu and no longer Ninjutsu. The split with Stephen K Hayes left some bad marks.

More likely I think the guy is more of an athlete/performer with high athletic and flexible ability like most dancers and musical performers.

He does what he enjoys, so that makes up for the low salary. And he can probably get some well-payed private ninja gigs on the side.

Forgot Keanu Reeves and Lawrence Fishburne also studied Chen Tai Chi(not my sub-style) for 6 months for their fight in the 'Matrix Movie'.

Chen Tai Chi looks close to Shaolin as they cross-trained due to being close but there are differences to a trained MA.

I don't think so M3M3M3, not if you use the big pay checks to create better opportunities for yourself and your family..

When I was a student I lived for less IN Tokyo. He's making 180,000 plus bonuses. it also doesn't explain what he was doing in Tokyo before, since he probably already has a visa to be in Japan so he probably already has extra assets. But for 180,000 plus bonuses in Aichi, plus his fame status and extra income elsewhere he's probably gonna be just fine.

Wc626:His tax guy is gona have fun with that W-2 form. Not a problem. IRS (USA) deals with foreign income sources all the time. Does Japan have an equivalent to the W4? That's the form the employer uses to report employment status and several different forms of withholding to the IRS. Also, that $20K (US) salary puts him in the Obamacare reporting range but ineligible for Earned Income Credit (EIC) due to foreign residence.

He doesn't need a W2 or W4 as those forms are issued if working in the US. Americans living overseas file a 2555/2555EZ foreign income exclusion which is attached to a standard 1040. Income up to 100,000 USD a year is excluded. No additional paperwork required. Since he's full time outside the US longer than 330 days (or if he's a permanent resident of Japan) , Obamacare reporting range and EIC is not an issue if all his income is foreign based.

Congrats to him. A life changing job. Bravo.

I'm guessing one of the bonuses is the prefecture is paying for his apartment. Sounds like he was training to play a ninja already and when this gig opened up it was the classic "when opportunity knocks, you answer the door!"

The new ninja squad will receive a one-year contract and earn a monthly salary of 180,000 yen plus bonuses.

Peanuts salary. Will he have to pay shakai hoken too?