If You Get a Chance to Travel, Take It!: Something different

Yesterday, I went to visit something very Japanese.

"But, Jen," I hear you say, "You've visited lots of castles, temples and shrines!"

Aha! This involves cats and trains!

You may have heard of Tama, the Super Station Master who saved a rail line. If not, here's the story.

While Japan Rail (JR) is the largest train company in Japan by far, there are lots of smaller private rail companies. One such company is the Wakayama Electric Railway, in Wakayama prefecture. The company operates one rail line, the 14.3 km Kishigawa line from Wakayama City to Kishi.

In 2006, the company had financial trouble and turned all of its stations into unmanned stations. They had informal station masters selected from employees of local businesses, and Ms. Koyama was chosen to be the station master at Kishi Station. She had a cat, named Tama, who hung out at the station and at Ms. Koyama's business. Since the cat already was popular with the passengers she greeted, the railway named her the official station master.

The news of this spread, and the publicity led to an increase in passengers who came just to see Tama. She was appointed station master in January of 2007 and ridershp increased 17% for that month over January 2006. The increased ridership continued and the company became profitable.

In 2009, the company remodeled a train -- the same 2 car "one man" train type that I rode from Utsunomiya to Nasukarasuyama -- to feature Tama. When Kishi station was remodeled in 2010, it was made to look like a cat's face

Tama later was named Super Station Master and became the company's first female executive as "Operating Officer".

Sadly, Tama passed away at the age of 16 in 2015. She was succeeded by her protege, Nitama (Tama II). Over 3,000 fans attended her funeral and Tama was given the posthumous title, "Honorary Eternal Stationmaster" and enshrined as a goddess.

Now, Nitama can be seen (during working hours) at Nishi station. The company also has other themed trains: Umeboshi, Omocha (toys) and Ichigo (strawberries -- a local product).

Doesn't that sound incredibly Japanese to you?

And here are the pictures!

At Wakayama Station, it's easy to find the platform for the Wakayama Electric Rail. You'll buy your ticket or one day pass right at the platform!

There are Tama signs along the way:

First came the Umeboshi Train. It's pretty good-looking, but not the train I wanted.

The Tama train wouldn't come for another 45 minutes, so I wandered around the station environs for a bit. I didn't find much. When I came back, the Tama Train arrived! It came before its scheduled departure time -- I suspect its for photo ops.

The inside is just adorable! The seating on trains like this is usually in this format -- benches along the sides, instead of facing forward in rows. It IS unusual for them to be made of wood and have themed upholstery.

I almost didn't notice that even the lights are Tama-themed

If you look closely, you'll see the usual "Don't get your hand caught in the door" warning stickers have paw prints on them.

And there are paw prints on the floor.

Partway through the trip, we passed the Toy Train.

Here's the Strawberry Train.

It was quite crowded. The man in the picture below led a group of Chinese tourists. I suspect that Chinese tourists in Japan occupy the same social spot that American tourists do in France. That's not to say that there aren't other foreign tourists in Japan that fail to follow local customs and manners.

But Chinese tourists stick out by their numbers. I haven't seen large tour groups other than Chinese ones. I'm sure the size of the group contributes to Chinese tourists seeming louder than most Japanese. But it is noticeable.