Station Master Tama Leads To Traffic Congestion

Station master Tama has been such a popular attraction for Kishi station that the tourist are causing some unwanted problems to the train station.

Tourists have been flocking to see Tama the Stationmaster Cat at Kishi Station on Wakayama Electric Railway Co.’s Kishigawa Line, and cars from as far as Tokyo and Kyushu have been spotted filling the empty space in front of the station, especially on weekends and holidays.

However, the extra cars to the area have brought a wave of nuisance parkers, and the Wakayama Electric Railway Co. employed two new parking inspectors in spring this year.

Despite being used heavily by local commuters, Kishi Station has no parking lots. The railway operator has asked tourists to “park and ride” from Idakiso Station, five stops away from Kishi Station, but the service has remained unpopular, and cars are now being pointed towards a local dry riverbed being used for parking.

Source: Mainichi Japan

Maybe they should hire another cute animal like a puppy to look into this congestion problem in the parking lot ^^