A surging number of foreign tourists in Japan has left a ninja-themed cafe with a staff shortage.

The cafe in Tokyo's Asakusa lets customers have a taste of training to become ninja. Immediately after it opened on Wednesday morning, six visitors from Thailand and India showed up.

Staffers instructed the visitors, clad in ninja costumes, in using blowguns and throwing star-shaped shuriken blades.

A man from India on his first visit to Japan said the training was a very good experience.

Another man from Thailand said he and his children had fun and want to come back.

Before the spread of the coronavirus, the cafe was crowded with foreign tourists on a daily basis. But during the pandemic it had no reservations on some days and had to cut its staff and business days.

The cafe has resumed daily operation since coronavirus border controls were eased last October. It had about 300 customers that month.

From around March, the cafe began to get more bookings by foreign tourists and had over 1,000 customers last month, equivalent to pre-pandemic levels.

But now, the cafe is having difficulty hiring new ninja employees after it reduced the staff size to two or three at one point, leaving it with no choice but to turn down some reservations.

Saito Masahiro, a representative of the cafe, said reservations have surged, especially in March and April. He said more ninja should be hired to keep the business going.