Japanese ninja museum targeted by thieves who stole 1m yen

A ninja museum in Japan has been targeted by thieves who escaped with a heavy safe containing more than 1 million yen (£7,155) in cash in the space of a few minutes.

The Iga-ryu museum in the central prefecture of Mie is devoted to the craft of the ninja, Japanese agents known for stealth and violence.

After the building's alarm went off at 1:30am on Monday, museum staff at the museum called police. But by the time they appeared, the culprits had escaped.

The thieves are believed to have forced open the door to the museum’s office with a crowbar, removed the safe and - with a speed that one could expect of ninja themselves - exited the building in the space of three minutes, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said.

Police believed the suspects waited until museum staff left at 5:30pm on Sunday before removing the 150kg safe, which contained admission fees from more than 1,000 visitors collected over the weekend.

There is no information currently available about the suspects’ appearance.

The ninja were once revered as covert agents who served samurai masters during the “warring states” period from the mid-15th century.

Now, however, ninja act as tourism ambassadors, as Japan attempts to gain from a global craze for ninjutsu.

Iga and neighbouring Koga are credited with developing the two main schools of ninjutsu - although several other places in Japan claim connections with ninja,

Ninja were arguably at their most effective in Iga and Koga, as these locations were near to Edo-era trading routes and mountain hideouts where they would train in between missions.