Once upon a time, a group of stray cats lived near the train station in Kinokawa, Japan. They were befriended by passengers and the station manager Toshiko Koyama. One of the cats was a female calico cat that Koyama named Tama. She was the most lovable of the cats. In 2006, the railway company wanted to evict the cats when it constructed new roads leading to the station. Koyama begged the company to let Tama stay. He pointed out that Tama was a living example of a maneki-neko. A maneki-neko is a cat figurine that brings good luck. They are sometimes called “beckoning cats” because they have a paw raised inviting a person in. They are displayed in shops, restaurants, businesses, and homes. They are also known as “lucky cats” and “calling cats”. The idea goes back hundreds of years ago. There are several legends about how this all started. In one, a noble named Li Naotaka was returning home from a day of falconing when a cat beckoned him into a temple. Soon after, a violent thunderstorm occurred. Naotaka made the temple his clan’s temple and it prospered. Another legend was about a warlord named Ota Dokan. He got separated from his soldiers in a battle. A cat beckoned him to a temple and he survived and went on to win the war. He donated a cat statue to the temple. In another, an old woman lived near a shrine. She had to give up her cat because she was too poor to feed it. In a dream, a cat told her to make a cat ornament for good luck. She sold them at the shrine and got rich. Anyway, back to Tama. The company decided to let Koyama keep Tama. It went all in and on Jan. 5, 2007, Tama was officially named station master. Her job was to greet passengers. She was given a gold name tag and a station master hat and uniform. The travelers loved him. The number of people using the station increased and the town businesses got more tourists. Tama is given credit for the phenomenon called nekonomics. The term translates to “cat economics”. It refers to the use of cats to sell merchandise and to increase business. The Japanese find cats to be kawaii which means cute. There was a great increase in the number of products aimed at cat owners and the use of cat imagery on products. Hello Kitty was created because of nekonomics. Islands of stray cats became popular destinations. Cat cafes opened where people could sit down and mingle with the cats. Feb. 22 was proclaimed National Cat Day. That date was chosen because 2-2-2 is pronounced “nyan, nyan, nyan” which sounds like “meow, meow meow” to the Japanese. Cats replaced dogs as the most popular pet. Much of this was due to a kawaii cat named Tama.
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