The bright-pink ninja-emblazoned train isn't exactly the epitome of stealth as it cuts through the forested hills and rice paddies of Mie Prefecture. Neither are visitors' pint-size offspring who race excitedly up the paths of Ueno Park in the city of Iga shrieking their excitement at the prospect of getting up close and personal with fun and fear in the shape of Japan's famed spies and assassins of history and legend.
What awaits us all at the Iga-Ryu Ninja Museum may not be quite the real deal, but the town is determined to hang on to its storied — if rather shadowy — past.
Long before the word "ninja" was hijacked for a bunch of masked mutant turtles, these masters of secrecy and disguise were an actual part of Japanese feudal society. Yet the art of ninjutsu (the Way of Stealth) is not indigenous to Japan. The ancient discipline is rooted in spiritual principles from the Indian subcontinent, and tempered by a healthy dose of mysticism and Buddhist asceticism brought to these shores by Chinese warrior monks.