日本鐵路“貓站長”走紅 吸引大量乘客

In times of need, Japanese say they can even ask the cat for help. In this town in western Japan, people look to Tama, a nine-year-old cat working as master of an unmanned train station.

The tortoiseshell coloured creature, born and raised at Kishi Station on the provincial Kishigawa Line, wears a formal uniform cap of Wakayama Electric Railway and calmly watches passing passengers who greet her.

There are 10 train stations on the 14.3-kilometre line.

"Tama is the only stationmaster as we have to reduce personnel costs. You say you could ask for the cat's help, but she is actually bringing luck to us," Wakayama Electric spokeswoman Keiko Yamaki said.

The company feeds her in lieu of salary.

Tama was born from a stray cat brought to the station by a cleaner and kept by Toshiko Koyama, a local who runs a grocery store next door.

The station went unmanned in April 2006 as the line was losing money. But Tama stuck around.

She rose to national stardom in January 2007 as the railway company formally appointed her as "stationmaster".

Her appointment had an immediately positive effect, boosting the number of passengers using the line in January by 17 percent from a year earlier.

Happy with her successful job as stationmaster, the company promoted Tama to "super-stationmaster" in January this year, making her "the only female in a managerial position" in the company's 36-strong workforce.

"She now holds the fifth highest position in the company," Yamaki joked.

In reward for the promotion, Tama got a new "office".

The stationmaster's office, a renovated former ticket booth at the station, opened in April.

The office guarantees her some privacy.

"She declines to relieve herself when passengers are looking. We set the toilet where passengers can't see," Yamaki said.

"She works nine to five and takes Sundays off," Yamaki said.

在勞動力短缺時期，日本人說他們恨不得讓貓來幫忙。而在這個日本西部小鎮，人們真的指望上了一隻名叫阿玉的貓，這隻九歲的貓在一個無人售票火車站任站長。

這隻花貓在“貴志川線”的貴志站出生並長大。她總是頭戴歌山電氣鐵路公司的制服帽，靜靜地注視着跟她打招呼的來往乘客。

“貴志川線”總長14.3公里，沿途共有十站。

歌山公司的女發言人山木慶子說：“由於公司要降低人力成本，阿玉是這條線上唯一一個‘站長’。說是讓貓來幫忙，但其實是她給我們帶來了好運。”

阿玉的薪水就是鐵路公司發給她的“貓糧”。

阿玉是一隻流浪貓的後代，她被一個清潔工帶到貴志火車站，並由車站旁雜貨店的老闆小山和田“撫養”。

由於貴志川線經營虧損，貴志站於2006年4月改爲無人售票車站，不過阿玉並未離開。

2007年1月，阿玉被歌山電氣鐵路公司任命爲貴志站的“站長”，從此一炮走紅。

阿玉上任後，貴志川線的經營狀況很快出現好轉，整條線當月的乘客數量比前一年同期增長了17%。

由於對阿玉的工作表現十分滿意，歌山公司於今年一月提拔她爲“超級站長”，阿玉也因此成爲這家擁有36人公司的管理層的唯一一位“女性成員”。

山木說：“現在她是公司的第五把手了。”

阿玉升官後，還得到了一間新的“站長辦公室”。

站長辦公室由原來的售票處改造而成，並於今年四月開放。

這間辦公室保護了阿玉的一些“隱私”。

山木說：“當有乘客看她時，她總是拒絕大小便。所以我們把貓砂放在了乘客看不見的地方。”

“她每天‘朝九晚五’，週日休息。”