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Adorable Fall Travel: Public Transit Pet Pays Off

October 8, 2008 at 4:00 PM | 0 Comments

While at least one Brit is determined to give tourists a bad name in Tokyo, a city southwest of Osaka is drawing in the masses with the world's most adorable train attendant.

Tama the cat now lives in the Kinokawa train station after growing up in an nearby grocery store. Even after the regional train line could no longer afford to keep a human stationmaster, it bought Tama a wee cap and used her to woo some 55,000 new passengers every year to the outpost.

The working feline, whose heart markings are said to be lucky for visiting couples, made some $2.8 million last year from public appearances like a cat food commercial--much more than the station's other attention-seeking move of having "Strawberry Fields" play as trains arrive.

Dear Wall Street: Forget the bailout. Go get some adorable pets with miniature uniforms, and we'll listen to your demands. And if you don't like cats, how about monkeys dressed as waiters?

Related Stories:
· Tama Is the Purr-fect Antidote to Financial Gloom [AFP, via Yahoo]
· Brit Posing as Spaniard Vies For World's Worst Tourist Title [Jaunted]
· Stationmaster Cat Draws Tourists [Japan Probe]

[Photo: AFP]

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