delight
A frozen, sickly stray became the station's new boss
They found her sick at the station. Six months later, she ran it.
A tabby cat named Nakano-san was promoted to stationmaster at Nakanocho Station in Choshi, Japan, in July, complete with a cap and a medallion for her collar. Staff at the Choshi Electric Railway Co. found her last October, thin and sick with her eyes frozen shut. They nursed her back to health at the station, signed her up as an apprentice in January, and gave her the top job six months later. Her listed skills include pushing computer mouses off desks and sleeping on paperwork. The struggling railway hoped a cat might draw visitors to Choshi's temples and lighthouses. There is precedent. Wakayama Electric Railway appointed Japan's first cat stationmaster, Tama, in 2007, which lifted passenger numbers 17% that month and, by one estimate, added 1.1 billion yen to the local economy. Nakano-san's July debut drew a swarm of reporters, all there to meet the new boss.
