The Japanese employ electric rail lines as public transportation. Among these is the Wakayama Electric
Railway in Wakayama, Japan. Normally, public transportation is self-sustaining, but rarely does it turn a
substantial profit. Most, if not all, of the gate receipts for any public transportation medium is barely
enough to sustain operating costs. Often operating expenses for any form of public transportation has to
be supplemented from increased taxes. Nonetheless, public transportation does usually prove itself to be
a cost-saving measure for the citizenship of most metropolitan areas.
In the case of Wakayama Electric, however, drastic measures were needed to avert financial disaster in the
face of increased operating expenses. It was decided therefore to lay off nearly all of full time employees
and replace them with locals who lived and worked near the stations as part time employees. At the
Kinokawa station the company invoked quite a stir when it decided to hire as station master a local
transient named Tama.
Tama had been a regular at the station anyway. She was homeless, and since she didn't have a regular
income the company figured Tama would accept the job eagerly, which she did. Surely appointing a
homeless vagabond was a bold move by a company in dire straits. But what an appointment! Kinokawa’s
female station master would turn out to be one of the best finds in Japanese municipal government. During
her tenure as station master, ridership would increase by nearly 20%, resulting in an overall revenue
increase of 10% over the previous year – nearly 1.1 billion yen (nearly $12 million U.S.) generated for the
local economy!
This all occurred during the years from 2006 to 2007. So successful has the female station master been at
her job that recently she was promoted to the post of “super” station master, becoming the only female in a
managerial position in the company. Aside from increasing train ridership, her current duties include the
supervision of the other station employees. Whereas Tama had once been among the homeless she is now
among the celebrated personalities employees in all of Japan.
Among the perks that Tama enjoys as a result of her company service are company-owned and supplied
living quarters. The company pays all living expenses for Tama, including food and drink. Tama's ship had
finally come in. Just a few months prior Tama had been sleeping in the streets, begging for her food. Back
then Tama had depended upon the good graces of others, including many of those who now rode her
trains. Now, instead of receiving a handout from others, Tama is the one doing the handout.
Many wonder at how Tama could have risen so far so fast. How was it that she managed to raise herself
from homeless waif to super manager of a train station? And how had she manage to turn things around in
such a manner as to earn the company a substantial profit? After all, had not the company only hired her as
a publicity stunt? Was she not put in such a lofty position by a company that was grasping at straws to
improve its public image? Had she not been appointed originally on a temporary basis with the hope that
once ridership had increased she would be replaced as all the others?
Yes, Tama has it made. Her own living quarters complete with her own bed, her own sink, her own door,
her own food bowl supplied with food by someone else; her own water bowl, filled by someone else. And
she has her own litter box, which someone else takes care of also.
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