Cat brings in passengers to Japanese railway station

In an interesting marketing spin, a Japanese company has used the cuddly pull of a cat to bring back customers to travel in trains. The company has been in a tight financial situation recently, and seems to have found an ideal solution to grow the business. So what does it do? It puts a nine year old cat in a railway uniform cap at the entrance of Kishi station, and revenue has actually grown by 10%. Cats are considered good luck in Japan:

All the nine-year-old cat does is sit by the entrance of Kishi station in a railway uniform cap and pose for photos for the tourists. Tama has done such a good job of raising revenue for the Kishikawa train line that she was recently promoted to “super-station-master”.
Appointing a cat to turn around fortunes makes cultural sense in Japan, where cats are believed to bring in business. People are snatching up postcards, notebooks and badges decorated with Tama's picture. There is even a ¥1,365 (£6.65) book of photographs called Diary of Tama, the Station Master.

If you click on the link of the article, you will see a cute photo of the cat.