--- title: Japanese Elevated to Goddess Status at Lavish Funeral description: Tama wasn't just any old cat to this community canonical: https://time.com/3939697/tama-cat-japan-rail-station-funeral/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-29T13:10:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:21:34.018Z og:title: Japanese cat gets funeral fit for a goddess og:description: Tama wasn't just any old cat to this community og:url: https://time.com/3939697/tama-cat-japan-rail-station-funeral/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte025e80a19fccc86/698858d32dce013cae9e464a/train-conductor-cat-tama-japan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1584 og:image:height: 891 og:image:alt: Cat stationmaster Tama, superstar in western Japan, dies og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Japanese cat gets funeral fit for a goddess twitter:description: Tama wasn't just any old cat to this community twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte025e80a19fccc86/698858d32dce013cae9e464a/train-conductor-cat-tama-japan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Beloved Japanese Cat 'Elevated to Status of Goddess' at Lavish Funeral > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 29, 2015 1:10 PM UTC  Tama, a cat stationmaster of a railway station in western Japan, attends an event at her Kishi Station in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan in Jan., 2013. Tama, a cat stationmaster of a railway station in western Japan, attends an event at her Kishi Station in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan in Jan., 2013. Kyodo/AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Jun 29, 2015 1:10 PM UTC The beloved rail station cat who died in Japan last week had a funeral fit for a goddess. Rail officials and thousands of fans attended the funeral for Tama, [who died last week](http://time.com/3935123/cats-japan-trains-world-train-station-rails/) after years of attracting tourists to a rail station in Western Japan. According to [_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33306846), she was “elevated to the status of a goddess” at her Shinto-style funeral and titled an “honorary permanent stationmaster.” The feline was more than just a cute addition to the station, _BBC_ reports, she was also a cash cow. By having her as stationmaster, the railway was able to help turn around from near bankruptcy. Her presence helped generate about 1.1 billion yen. As a thank you, well-wishers are leaving flowers and cans of tuna outside of the station. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33306846)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3939697/tama-cat-japan-rail-station-funeral/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3939697/tama-cat-japan-rail-station-funeral/"},"headline":"Beloved Japanese Cat 'Elevated to Status of Goddess' at Lavish Funeral","datePublished":"2015-06-29T13:10:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:21:34.018Z","description":"Tama wasn't just any old cat to this community","url":"https://time.com/3939697/tama-cat-japan-rail-station-funeral/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","cats","Japan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte025e80a19fccc86/698858d32dce013cae9e464a/train-conductor-cat-tama-japan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte025e80a19fccc86/698858d32dce013cae9e464a/train-conductor-cat-tama-japan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cat stationmaster Tama, superstar in western Japan, dies","caption":"Cat stationmaster Tama, superstar in western Japan, dies","creditText":"Kyodo/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3939697/tama-cat-japan-rail-station-funeral/","name":"Beloved Japanese Cat 'Elevated to Status of Goddess' at Lavish Funeral"}}]}] ```