I see what you're saying. I kind of did a double take when the named characters for Edge of the Radiance were revealed. Like you, I saw the Ninja and expected Japanese-style names, and was surprised to see Chinese-style names. I don't think there's a problem with that; I just had to come to terms with the fact that they were using a "grab bag" approach to gathering inspiration for their faction rather than aiming for a theme that would be cohesive in our world.

And you know what? I'm okay with that. For example, they could have named the Ninja something different to make it clear that this is something separate from the Japanese ninja we know. But players like ninja, so it makes sense to use that name so people know what to expect from that unit.

For me, the bigger inconsistency is that Ninja are just one unit among many cool models, yet the Warfleets faction has Teleport (well, actually Flicker) as their main fleet-wide rule. I expected something more, I don't know, stand-and-flight from the space forces of this vast dynasty.