A calico cat named Yontama was formally appointed stationmaster at Kishi Station in western Japan this week, stepping into a role that is at once whimsical and ceremonial but also important to the survival of a rural railway line.
The appointment ceremony on Wednesday drew fans, photographers and local officials to the station in Kinokawa, Wakayama prefecture, where Wakayama Electric Railway President Mitsunobu Kojima placed a medal around Yontama’s neck as the crowd applauded.
Yontama is the third cat to hold the title on the Kishigawa Line, following the death in November of her predecessor Nitama, who served for nearly a decade and has since been named honorary stationmaster.
The railway also introduced its newest feline recruit, Rokutama, a young calico described not as an apprentice but as a “stationmaster candidate”, a deliberately playful distinction that reflects the elaborate lore surrounding the line’s cat staff.
