Station

Interesting Fact

In 2007, a calico cat named Tama was appointed honorary stationmaster at Kishi Station in rural Japan. What began as a local publicity stunt quickly became a national sensation. Visitors traveled from across the country just to meet the feline stationmaster, posing for photos beneath her tiny stationmaster's hat. Tama's popularity brought hundreds of thousands of passengers to the struggling railway line and generated millions of dollars in economic impact for the region. When she passed away in 2015, she was honored with a Shinto-style funeral and remembered as one of Japan's most successful stationmasters.