Cat in Hat Can’t Quit

Tama-chan promoted to Super Station Chief after one year as regular Station Chief. Gets new house.

interview

LetsJapan: What did you do before you were appointed Stationmaster?
Tama-chan : I was being taken care of by an old lady who owned a shop next to Kishikawa station.

LJ: She provided for you.
Tc: Yeah. She tried to keep me in a cat house in the street.

LJ: How did you get this job?
Tc: Well, the government told her my house had to be moved off the road, so she got this wacky idea and suggested putting the kitty hut in the station.

LJ: And the stationmaster agreed.
Tc: He saw my potential. Be the mascot, get some attention, improve the decreasing usage of this route. He made me Station Chief.

LJ: That’s a nice hat.
Tc: I hate it.

LJ: Why?
Tc: I have to wear it all day. I can’t lay down on my right side. Dogs and birds can sneak up on me from the right. And half the time they can’t even put it on straight.

LJ: You’ve posed for a photo book, you have a poster, postcards.
Tc: I earned it! I lived in that stupid pink cage for a year.

LJ: What’s next for Tama Chan?
Tc: Get me out of here. This is humiliating.

Photos: top, right Photozou/Tama-chan album

Video YouTube ; story, video TBS ; story, photo Petwalker

Photos: left Kishigawa-sen blog, right Photozou/Tama-chan album
Tama-chan goods, book; Wakayama line; Ryobi Holdings PR