Cat works as train station master in Japan

There is only one employee who works at Kishi train station in Kinokawa City, Japan... and she's a cat.

Tama is an aging cat who works as a train station master bringing in hordes of tourists, mostly from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and has helped revive the economy of the rural area.

She turns 15 this month and has been working at the station for seven years, since her appointment in 2007.

Tama's job is pretty relaxing. She only works four days a week and mostly just sits around on her cat bed wearing her gold-lined hat looking cute while tourists take pictures of her.

"The idea is clever, as the cat has become the symbol of the railway, attracting many tourists," Ka Wing Wu, a 22-year- old university student from Hong Kong, tells the Wall Street Journal.

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Tama has caused a boom in the local economy of 1.1 billion yen revenue from train ticket sales, memorabilia and commercial appearances. During the first year of Tama's appointment there was a 10 per cent jump in train ticket sales.

Visitors from Hong Kong and Taiwan increased 240 percent from April to September last year, according to the railway company that owns the train station, Wakayama Electric Railway.

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"The moment I met eyes with Tama, I was immediately struck with an image of Tama as station master," says company president Mitsunobu Kojima.

He envisioned her as a "maneki-neko", a Japanese lucky charm that would bring good business.

There have been plenty of other "working" animals over the years who have shot to fame in a manner similar to Tama.

Shrek the sheep in New Zealand became a national icon for his overwhelming amount of wool that made his face almost unrecognizable.

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