When she told her dream to Akashiya Sanma, before she knew it, she became a “ninja”… The ambition of a “brilliant woman who graduated from the University of Tokyo” who can speak 22 languages.

Yuzurie Suzuki says that she became a ninja after being scouted by a ninja when she said, “My dream is to be a ninja who plays a dark role in the world. We asked her why she became a ninja and what she does as a ninja, which is still shrouded in secrecy.

Her inspiration came from “Sanma’s Todai Equation. Mr. Suzuki was born and raised by a doctor father and a medical researcher mother. When asked if he had aspired to be a ninja since he was a child, he shook his head with a smile and said, “No way.

My dream when I was in elementary school was to become a translator. I loved studying English under the influence of my best friend, who was a returnee from abroad. My dream of becoming a translator gradually faded away, and during high school I thought I would become a voice actor after graduating from high school.”

Why did she go to the University of Tokyo when she wanted to be a voice actress?

In a word, to reassure my parents. When I told my mother that I wanted to be a voice actress, she got angry and told me that I should finish college for my future. …… I decided to apply to the University of Tokyo in the summer of my senior year of high school because it was a national and public university in Tokyo with low tuition fees and I knew my mother from her university.

I studied hard and passed the second class of the Science Department of the University of Tokyo. My parents were extremely happy. After entering the University of Tokyo, I went on to the Department of Integrated Natural Sciences and graduate school, where I studied hard in physics.

He did not enter the University of Tokyo with a particularly strong motivation. However, the “Todai boom” that was taking place at the time brought about a turning point for Mr. Suzuki when he appeared on the Fuji Television talk variety program “Sanma’s Todai Equation,” broadcast in 2004.

I was interviewed in front of the red gate of the Hongo campus. What are your dreams for the future? I was asked, ‘What is your dream for the future? I still wonder why I answered “ninja” at that time.

I had never thought about being a ninja until I was a child, when I was addicted to the anime “Nintama Rantaro”. At the time, I had no specific dreams for the future, and when I was asked the question, my mind went blank, but the word that popped into my head was ninja. Immediately after the program aired, I received offers from several organizations promoting ninja culture to become a ninja. I was so excited that I decided to become a ninja.

And so Mr. Suzuki’s path to becoming a ninja was opened. In the first place, what does one have to do to become a ninja?

The details cannot be discussed in detail due to the “Code,” but there is a classroom and practical test, and once you pass it, you are cleared to become a ninja. The level of difficulty of the entrance exam is about the same as the final exam of junior high school. I think you have to study hard to pass the exam.

After the entrance examination, the difficulty level will continue to increase step by step. As a new ninja, I do not yet know how far the difficulty level will go. I would like to do more serious training in the ninja villages of Iga, but due to money and time constraints, I mainly train at ninja dojos in the neighboring Kanto region.

Just like a driver’s license, passing a classroom lecture and a practical test is required to be able to call oneself a ninja.

When he actually became a ninja, he felt a gap from the impression he had before becoming one.

In manga and anime, ninjas are prominent figures, but in reality I thought they were very plain. The training they do at the dojo is similar to judo or aikido training. Naturally, there was no training in superhuman ninjutsu like in “Naruto,” and if I had to say something, it was similar to the atmosphere of the ninjutsu academy in “Nintama Rantaro.

What surprised me was that there were a surprisingly large number of ninja. After I became a ninja, I was frequently approached by senior ninja on social networking sites, saying, ‘Actually, I am a ninja too. As far as I know, there are 30 or 40 ninjas who are mixed up in society.

There are also factions of ninja, some are light ninja like me and some are genuine (gachi) ninja. Originally, ninja were an existence that was passed down from generation to generation through oral tradition. Only such a genuine ninja can be called a “ninja”. There are people who have a fundamentalist view that only such genuine ninja are allowed to call themselves “ninja.

For such people, it seems that ninja like me who transmit information on social networking sites are unacceptable, and it is not uncommon to be bashed as a “fake. However, the real ninja I actually met were very tolerant. One of the legitimate successors of Kazama Kotaro, a ninja from the Warring States period, said to me, “You are a ninja, too!　Good luck! and gave me a shuriken for competition.

Although he can now call himself a ninja, he does not engage in espionage activities as one might imagine from the word “ninja.

He says, “My main two activities are training at the ninja dojo and communicating on social networking sites. Looking at senior ninja, I get the impression that if you go to the dojo every week and train for about five years, you will become a full-fledged ninja. I have been a ninja for three years, so I am still a newbie as a ninja.

I promote Japanese ninja culture mainly to people overseas on social networking sites such as Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. There is no remuneration for ninja activities. Being a ninja today is not a profession, but more of a lifestyle. They learn ninjutsu and train their spirit and body. No profitability is created there. My mother warmly looks after me as if to say, ‘You are doing something stupid.

In the Reiwa era, it was impossible to make money as a ninja alone. However, it is said that being a ninja often leads to work.

My main source of income is voice acting. I am able to appear consistently and earn enough money to eat from voice acting alone. I often receive work while promoting ninja.

When I played the role of the ninja character “Nekonobu” in the anime “Gunma-chan,” I was asked to do so because I am a ninja. In addition to voice acting, I also earn money from my social networking activities, and I think I am one of the most profitable female voice actors of my generation.

On her desk are a large-screen computer, a microphone, and various other equipment she uses to distribute her work. On the other hand, the bookshelves on the walls were filled with books on ninja, such as “Ninja Secrets,” as well as technical books on languages and economics, and in the corner of the room were shuriken, swords, and other “ninja gear. It was quite a chaotic space. Mr. Suzuki continued.

My dream is to become a performer who is invited all over the world as a ninja. To achieve this, I need to study languages. I have studied 22 languages so far. I can speak five languages including Japanese, English, Chinese, French, and Spanish for daily conversation.

Recently, I have been focusing on studying Indonesian. My aim is to commit to Indonesia, which has a large population and a rapidly growing social networking population, and to increase the number of followers. When I created a Spanish-language account in the past, I gained 100,000 followers in one week.

Indonesia has a population of 270 million, but it is a blue ocean in terms of social networking because the official language is Indonesian, not English. The Indonesian language is a great weapon to gain local popularity. Thus, I have recently been spending more time thinking about SNS strategies.

First of all, I want to increase the total number of followers on SNS to 1 million by the end of this year. I would also like to be in an action film before long.

The days of the ninja, who used to hide in the dark and work stealthily, are over.