Photo: stationmaster by Natsuki

This story involves two of my most favorite subjects ever: cats and Japanese people. I often have a hard time expressing to some folks just how crazy Japanese people are. Well, I can now reference this single story from Wired about a cat named Tama.

In the Wakayama Electric Railway Co., the highest ranking female is Tama. And yes, I’m talking about Tama the cat. THE CAT.

Before Tama came along, Wakamaya was losing 500 million yen ($4.7 million US) a year as passengers abandoned the Kishigawa line in western Japan. In an effort to staunch the red ink, railway officials all but shut down Kishigawa station.

But Tama stuck around, and the passengers returned.

It didn’t happen overnight. Railway officials laid off the station’s staff in April 2006, but Tama — who’s mother was a stray that lived at the station — didn’t leave. She became a popular fixture among riders, and railway officials formally named her “stationmaster” in January 2007.

That’s pretty crazy, no? And if that’s not enough, Tama even has her own office and wardrobe complete with matching cap! The Japanese aren’t crazy enough to start giving her Japanese Yen just yet, so in the meantime, she’s being paid with cat food and a day off on Sundays.

You can’t make this up folks! THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING RIGHT NOW IN JAPAN! How incredibly awesome!

Thanks Funko!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 3:27 pm and is filed under Animals, Japanese, Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.