Ninja in popular culture

According to Wikipedia, first major appearance of ninja in Western pop-culture was in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967). The 1960s TV series The Samurai caused a significant wave of interest in ninja among younger viewers in Japan as well as Australia and the Philippines, but the impact of the ninja phenomenon was not felt in other western countries until considerably later. Western fascination with the ninja bloomed in the 1980s, especially in the United States;
Several American ninja movies starring Sho Kosugi were released in the early 1980s, largely responsible for introducing ninja to American pop culture and contributing to worldwide ninja-mania on grand scale (including megahit media franchises such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the late 1980s to early 1990s and Naruto in the 2000s).

You Only Live Twice (1967) Trailer

Enter The Ninja (1981) - Trailer

Sho Kosugi (Shōichi Kosugi)

Sho Kosugi (Shōichi Kosugi) , born on June 17 1948, in Tokyo, Japan, is martial arts expert and one of the most famous and notable ninja actors of the '80s who played (mostly) lead roles in numerous ninja movies and tv series including:

Enter the Ninja (1981) aka Ninja I

Revenge of the Ninja (1983) aka Ninja II








Ninja III: The Domination (1984) aka Ninja III












The Master (1984) aka Ninja Master - TV series (in 5 episodes)

Nine Deaths of the Ninja (1985)

Pray for Death (1985)












Rage of Honor (1987)

(...)Black Eagle (1988) with Jean-Claude Van Damme,
small part in Blind Fury (1989) with Rutger Hauer,
Kabuto (1992) as Daigoro Mayeda etc.

Sho Kosugi also made numerous instructional videos
and made appearance in commercials and television series.
Sho also wrote couple of books.
Sho Kosugi is founder of taiko group and Sho Kosugi Institute (SKI)
He is father of Shane Kosugi (born 1976)
(Revenge of the Ninja -1983, The Master -1 episode, 1984
Nine Deaths of the Ninja -1985, Pray for Death -1985 (...)
Godzilla: Final Wars -2004, (...) War - 2007 - as Temple Garden Warrior (starring with Jet Li)
and Kane Kosugi (born 1974)
(Nine Deaths of the Ninja -1985,Pray for Death -1985, Black Eagle -1988, The Last Samurai -2003).

Sho Kosugi (Shōichi Kosugi) resources on internet:
http://shokosugi.net/shopro - Official site
http://www.shokosugitheninja.com/ - Great Fan Site!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sho_Kosugi