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Comment by jesskah | Hacker News Reader

Maybe they are lying about not having successors. If I were a sneaky ninja, that's what I would do, have a secret heir.

That makes a disturbing amount of sense. What would the need to ninja be in modern times though?

Ninja are fundamentally political tools. As long as we have politics, someone will be interested in their services, I am sure.

First thing that comes to mind is "Confessions of an Economic Hitman." Currently reading.

IMO, it's not very good, especially for the HN crowd. The Big Short and The Shock Doctrine both provide a much more technical discussion of some of the same economic malaise while remaining far more riveting.

Disagree. I loved it. Recently even had the chance to discuss it's opening (Indonesian) chapter with a current Indonesian consul. He basically confirmed it, saying "we knew they weren't here for our benefit, but had little choice [...] It was a very costly decision. We hope we don't have to do that again." Quite the discussion. I like diplomats, they're always amusing.

Never said the premise was wrong; rather the author substitutes a thorough explanation on how and why this stuff happened with humblebragging. For Indonesia, The Shock Doctrine goes into much a much more detailed discussion of the IMF bailout.

Yeah, all good. Guess I am kind of just saying "here I am, an example of someone who doesn't need that level of detail and found the text both readable and enjoyable, and even recently held a conversation with someone in the know about it". Not un-recommending your more-detail-here meme.

Not really, unless you broaden the definition of a ninja to everyone who does sabotage, for example those who sank the Rainbow Warrior on behalf of the French government: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior

So, sabotage and assasination - yes, but more modern techniques replaced those of ninja.

For me it's not as much the tools used (since the techniques of seaking around places should still be the same) but the mindset behind. So maybe there's no demand for classical ninjas now. For Ninjas using Ninjutsu skills and modern tools at the same time, I think there is as much demand today as ever (on a international scope, in Japan I can't tell).

They would serve the same purpose as the CIA and MI6 if employed by the Japanese government. Corporate espionage would be another good use.

Same as the need for gurus and rockstars in modern times...

Provide silly monikers to the trendy web-coding crowd?

Hatsumi has not yet named a successor.

For those interested, www.kutaki.org is the primary forum for bujinkan/hombu dojo practitioners...

This made me smile.

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