Tama, a cat from Kinokawa, Wakayama, was initially just a stray cat like every other stray cat out and about in the streets of Japan. She was fending for survival, and lived near Kishi Station. Tama was fed by passengers that were passing through the train station, and even by the unofficial manager of the station, Toshiko Koyama. When the station was almost shut down in 2004, Koyama adopted Tama out of fear she would have no place to go if the station was demolished.
In 2007, Toshiko Koyama eventually became the official station manage, and in January of 2007, Tama was promoted to station master. Her job is to greet passengers, and she is the only female in a managerial position in the COMPANY. The positions comes with a station master's hat, and as her salary, the railway provides her with free cat food.
After an increase of over 1.1 billion Yen to the local economy because of all the publicity she was getting, Tama was promoted to Super Station Master and given her own office...a transformed ticket booth contianing a litter box.
Tama now has her own assistants, a building named after her, and even trains and tramcars depicting cartoon versions of her. Click the source to see this rags to riches cat story!