The Steve Jobs Ninja Star Story: Fact or Fiction?

A rather funny story about Steve Jobs hit the Internet last week, and caught the attention of mainstream media.

Bloomberg's account of the story is that Japanese magazine SPA! reported in its latest issue that, on a family vacation to Kyoto, Steve Jobs bought ninja throwing stars, known locally as shuriken, and attempted to bring them on his private jet.

Air safety officials supposedly disallowed Jobs from carrying the shuriken home with him, to which Jobs protested with the logic that it would not make sense for him to use these weapons to hijack his own plane. He then allegedly said that he would never visit Japan again.

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said that the report was inaccurate.

“Steve did visit Japan this summer for a vacation in Kyoto, but the incidents described at the airport are pure fiction,” said Dowling. “Steve had a great time and hopes to visit Japan again soon.”

However, Bloomberg cites Takeshi Uno, a spokesman at Kansai airport, as confirming that a passenger using a private jet was stopped at the end of July for carrying ninja throwing stars along with other handheld blades. Even though the passenger was flying on a private jet, the airport's regulations don't have separate rules for the different aircraft. Also a part of airport regulations is privacy, which means that this passenger could not be publically identified.

So maybe that's why Apple is looking for metal engineers.