The Angolan Special Police Forces, are a specialized para-military police force officially referred to as the “emergency police” but popularly known as “Ninjas”.^[1]

Armed groups active under Indonesian rule in East Timor, which terrorized populations supporting independence and were allegedly controlled by the Indonesian military, in some cases called themselves "Ninja." However, there seems little to no resemblance between their methods and those of Japanese ninja, and the name seems to have been borrowed from the movies rather than being directly influenced by the Japanese model.

Ninja in popular culture

Ninja loan: a Japanese yen syndicated loan by a foreign borrower.

Ninja (musician), a British rapper in the funk/rock band The Go! Team

A ninja is a spy and/or assassin in feudal Japan. Ninja may also refer to:

Ninjas or Ninja miners Mongolian small-scale gold miners: because carrying their gold panning bowls on their backs caused a fancied likeness to the back shells of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. ^[2]

Ninja Tune, a record label

Ninja (Six Flags Over Georgia), a roller coaster

Ninja (Six Flags Magic Mountain), a roller coaster

Ninja Sarasalo, a Finnish supermodel-singer who usually goes by only her first name, "Ninja"

Ninja (Six Flags St. Louis), a roller coaster

Rebels in the Pool Region of the Republic of the Congo called themselves "Ninja".

"Ninja", a track from the Concord Dawn album Uprising

Kawasaki Ninja, a line of sport Kawasaki motorcycles

Members of the Society for Creative Anachronism's Great Dark Horde who choose not to openly proclaim their membership therein are sometimes jocularly referred to as ninjas