Largely unrelated to the triangular rubber coin 6,800 miles along each side, the Invisible Ningi is a peculiar enough entity in its own right.

The Phrase was coined by my mother to describe the ninja in the James Bond film, You Only Live Twice. Tiger Tanaka spends a whole scene describing the 'art of concealment', while showing Bond around the training facility where Japanese Intelligence trains its ninja, the camera holding on various shots of ninja throwing each other about in loose pyjamas, smashing wooden blocks and, I believe, shooting things with automatic rifles.

In fact, about the only thing the ninja don't seem to be training to do is hide, and unsurprisingly when they do eventually go into battle alongside Bond in SPECTRE's secret volcano crater lair, they do so by abseiling from the ceiling and running around with guns getting shot a whole bunch, to make sure that no one makes the mistake of thinking that they might be as hard as Bond. In view of their total failure to be concealed, my mother dubbed these grey-pyjama'd losers 'the Invisible Ningi'¹, perhaps alluding to them being about as invisible as said triangular, rubber coin.

The important point is that these guys were not ninja, they were Japanese commandos. The nearest the film had to a ninja was the guy who tried to poison Bond in his sleep and got the girl instead. But they were Japanese, and so they were ninja.

Since then therefore, the phrase 'Invisible Ningi' has come to be used to describe any given character - especially in film - who is held to possess a certain attribute or skill by dint of what they are (and especially by what nationality they are), rather than because there is any adequately explored reason for them to possess it. Some classic examples include:

• Chinese who know kung fu because they're Chinese, and likwise Japanese who know karate for similar reasons, especially if they are plainly masters in their chosen martial art and not merely enthusiasts.

• Any oriental who possesses the secret wisdom of the ages either because all Chinese seem to know it², or because it has apparently been passed down, father to son, through this particular line of sous chefs.

• Assassins or spies who, by being assassins or spies, automatically become the roving lurve-machine ³, despite being paranoid sociopaths for whom casual intimate relations should represent a serious risk to life and limb. This especially applies if they make a point of sleeping with people they know to be enemy spies.

• Native Americans who talk like Tonto from the lone ranger and possess either mystical fighting prowess or profound ancient wisdom, even if they went to High School, work in a five-and-dime and have never even seen a reservation⁴. This is especially true in any film or TV programme in which all native Americans are like this.

• American soldiers rendered utterly invincible by having merely been in the 'Nam.

• Any given fantasy race, in any given fantasy book or series who all conform precisely to one or two incredibly simple stereotypes (especially if by so-doing they are become irrefutably better than everyone else), or any alien race in science fiction who do likewise.

Note that any of the above could be a perfectly good character. Jackie Chan characters are always master martial artists, it's his stock in trade. Are they Invisible Ningi? No. Why not? Because they stand out from the other Chinese characters in his films by being martial arts masters, rather than just being one of a nation of kung fu badasses.

Likewise, if an old oriental is the keeper of a great and ancient secret, and possesses the arcane knowledge associated with that secret, that would be acceptable. On the other hand, it seems odd that an ex-patriot Chinese restaurant owner would just happen to possess the most powerful book in several universes⁵

The Invisible Ningi is not notable for the extent or magnitude of his powers, but rather for the absence of any well thought-out reason for him to possess them at all beyond being one of 'those guys'.