--- 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Beloved Japanese Cat 'Elevated to Status of Goddess' at Lavish Funeral 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"}}]}] ```