So, I have the G.I. Joe Cycle Armor (thanks again, Mastermind!), and I find myself wondering something about the driver.

His code name is "Ashiko" -- hardly a typical code-name, and his real name is listed as "N. Kaeru" -- also somewhat unusual. The file cards don't give places of birth or anything like that. The only real personal detail on the card is that he's a member of the Arashikage ninja clan.

I find myself wondering just a bit if either the code name or the real name is supposed to be a take-off on some Japanese anime or manga of which I am not aware, or if it's just strictly something that Hasbro came up with?

Kaeru means frog.

Ashiko is typically a girl's name. Its other meaning refers to climbing foot cleats used by ninja in tandem with the shuko, hand claws.

I don't believe it's any sort of reference to anything else.
But it does make a crapton more sense than "Kamakura".

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Isn't Kamakura a county or region of Japan? Makes sense to me, especially if the region was home to some warriors of significance of some kind, but I guess that'd also be like a new Marine character calling himself Pendleton or Parris Island.

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No, it's a city and a time period, neither of which have much to do with ninjas.
The creator probably grabbed some random cool-sounding Japanese word rather than put effort into it.

Ashiko, on the other hand, at least appears to have some minor thought put into its name. His codename refers to a ninja weapon, and his real surname is an actual surname, and is also Japanese for frog... a quick, agile, slippery amphibian. Totally works.

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There was info somewhere (can't remember if it was a filecard or not) that Kamakura studied Japanese history and took the name of his favourite subject as his codename.

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I think that a Kamakura is a name of a city. where ninja are started?

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Women can stand a beating except when it is with their own fallkniven knife.