![]() In January 2010, railway officials promoted Tama to the post of "Operating Officer" in recognition of her contribution to expanding the customer base. In early 2009, the Wakayama Electric Railway introduced a new "Tama train" ( たま電車, Tama densha) train on the line which was customized with cartoon depictions of Tama. ![]() On October 28, 2008, Tama was knighted and awarded the title of "Wakayama de Knight" (a pun on "It's got to be Wakayama" in Japanese) by the prefectural governor, Yoshinobu Nishizaka, for her work in promoting local tourism. Her gold name tag was modified to a gold tag with a blue background with an added "S" for "super". Her new position had an "office" - a converted ticket booth containing a litter box. As a result of her promotion, she was "the only female in a managerial position" in the company. On January 5 2008, Tama was promoted to "super station master" in a ceremony attended by the president of the company, the mayor, and approximately 300 spectators. Tama's office inside the old Kishi Station in June 2008 The year-end bonus was modified to a special cat toy and a celebratory slice of crab, which Tama was fed by the company president. On December 5 2007, Tama was recognized as the grand prize winner of the railway's "Top Station Runner Award". "Nekonomics" refers to the positive economic impact of having a cat mascot. Tama is often cited as part of a phenomenon known in Japan as "Nekonomics" ( ネコノミクス, nekonomikusu, lit., "cat economy"), a play off the term Abenomics. A study estimated that the publicity surrounding Tama has contributed 1.1 billion yen to the local economy. The publicity from Tama's appointment led to an increase in passengers by 17% for that month as compared to January 2006 ridership statistics for March 2007 showed a 10% increase over the previous financial year. Tama's original gold name tag was stolen by a visitor on October 10 2007, but a replica was quickly made to replace it. In July 2008, a summer hat was also issued to Tama for hotter weather. A station master's hat was specially designed and made to fit Tama, and took more than six months to complete. In lieu of an annual salary, the railway provided Tama with a year's worth of cat food and a gold name tag for her collar stating her name and position. As station master, her primary duty was to greet passengers. On January 5 2007, railway officials officially awarded Tama the title of station master. Koyama pleaded with Mitsunobu Kojima, president of Wakayama Electric Railway, to allow the cats to live inside Kishi Station Kojima, seeing Tama as a maneki-neko (beckoning cat), agreed to the request. In April 2006, the newly-formed Wakayama Electric Railway destaffed all stations on the Kishigawa Line to cut costs, and at the same time evicted the stray cats from their shelter to make way for new roads leading to the stations. ![]() Eventually the decision to close the station was withdrawn after the citizens demanded that it stay open. The station was near closure in 2004 because of financial problems on the rail line. They were regularly fed by passengers and by Toshiko Koyama, the informal station manager at the time. ![]() Tama was born in Kinokawa, Wakayama, and was raised with a group of stray cats that used to live close to Kishi Station. Tama ( Japanese: たま, April 29, 1999 – June 22, 2015) was a female calico cat who gained fame for being a station master and operating officer at Kishi Station on the Kishigawa Line in Kinokawa, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. ![]()
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