[From November Issue 2012]
Figurines of ceramic cats are often displayed in Japanese stores. These cats sit with one paw, or both paws, raised to their ears. This engimono (talisman or lucky charm) is a “maneki neko” (literally a beckoning cat). The raised paw of the maneki neko resembles a gesture used by Japanese to beckon someone over. That is why the maneki neko is said to bring in customers and good fortune.
Cats used to be kept in Japanese farming villages in order to prevent mice from spoiling the rice harvest. Furthermore, Japanese believe that animals can also become gods and even cats are worshipped in some shrines and temples. It’s thought that these customs are the origins of maneki neko. These days cute cats can become famous and a recent phenomenon is the sight of maneki neko promoting a locality or company.
In Wakayama Prefecture, there is a cat who became a real life maneki neko for the local railway and the local community. The cat, owned by Wakayama Electric Railway, is named Tama, a common name for cats in Japan. Tama is the official station master of Kishi Station on the Kishigawa Line and is an executive board member of Wakayama Electric Railway. She has been given the title “Wakayama de Knight,” so she is now Lady Tama.
Lady Tama was originally taken care of by the owner of a newsstand that stood adjacent to Kishi Station. When the Kishigawa Line changed hands, the owner of the newsstand asked the new president to, “Permit Tama to live in the station house since she will no longer have a place to live.” The moment the president met Tama face to face, he was able to imagine the cat being a station master. Moreover, it felt like Tama was saying to him, “I will be the station master, so please help me.” This is how Tama came to be appointed as the station master of Kishi Station, which had been up until then an unmanned train station.
“Station Master Tama” was a big hit. The mass media covered the story and visitors turned up to see Tama, admiring the way she is so unfazed by humans and her beautiful calico coat. A university professor announced that the results of his research showed that, “Thanks to Tama, Wakayama Prefecture’s economy was boosted by 1.1 billion yen in one year.” Kishigawa Line had been running at a loss and was scheduled for closure, but was rescued by the cat it had rescued.
“Tama is so popular now that not a day goes by without a tourist bus coming to see her,” says YAMAKI Yoshiko, a spokesperson. “Some people have found work after putting Tama merchandise in the entrance to their home and some come back to say thanks because they found love after meeting Tama.”
Since Tama is in her twilight years, sometimes her subordinate Nitama helps out. Nitama has calico markings, just like Tama and was “hired” because of her easygoing character. She usually takes care of customers at Idakiso Station, but on Tama’s day off, she serves as “acting stationmaster.”
There are other instances of cats becoming popular after being used as PR mascots. In order to boost their company profile, “Jalan,” a travel information website operated by Recruit Lifestyle Co., Ltd., adopted a cat named “Nyalan” as their company mascot. Commercials showing Nyalan going on a trip became so popular that DVDs were released. Nyalan has even started his own Twitter account.
Recently, Nyalan has an apprentice and a commercial showing the two of them going on a trip together has been getting a lot of attention. This was the trigger for the number of his Twitter followers to reach over 40,000 in a month, making the Nyalan phenomenon topical as far away as China.
“Nyalan currently has about 60,000 followers on his Twitter account. You can get a sense of just how popular Nyalan is by looking at the number of comments and retweets made by his followers,” says MIYASHITA Maiko, a member of the editorial department. “The first DVD was very well-received, so we are planning a second one.”
Cats from Tashiro Island are contributing towards the restoration effort after the Tohoku Earthquake. Located in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture, about 70 people live on this 3.14 square kilometer island. In rural areas and isolated islands in Japan, aging and depopulation is a big worry, Tashiro Island is no exception. The island’s main industry is fishing, especially net fishing and oyster farming, but with an elderly population of around 80%, the island was in need of revitalization.
To the surprise of the Tashiro islanders, the past few years has brought an increase in the number of camera toting tourists. Because the island has a tradition of respecting cats it has a neko jinja, or cat shrine, where cats are worshipped, and the fishermen have a habit of feeding fish unfit for sale to the cats. As a result, the cat population soared and the media picked up the story of “the island with a larger population of cats than humans,” bringing cat enthusiasts to the island.
There were some residents who disliked the tourists’ lack of manners. But a few saw an opportunity to revitalize the island with the help of these cats. In an effort to encourage tourism, they did things like putting up cat-shaped signs. However, just as they were getting started, the island was devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake that hit on March 11, 2011.
The oyster farm was completely destroyed by the tsunami. As the area of devastation was so wide, central and local government was unable to decide where to allocate funds for relief. So the islanders proceeded to collect funds for the restoration themselves. They launched “Nyanko The Project,” an investment fund which pays investors a return in oysters after a few years.
The word “nyanko” means cat. Taking into account the concerns people had about the safety of the cats, they widened the remit of the project to include using some of the money to care for the cats. Investors would also receive cat themed items. In just three months, the project reached its target of 150 million yen. Because they’d collected so much money so fast, they quickly had to stop taking donations.
“Last March, we registered the project as a corporation. After we repair the oyster farms using the financial aid, if all goes well we will be able to ship oysters to our supporters as early as next year. We are also rebuilding the public restroom which was washed away,” says Chairman, OGATA Chikao. PR spokesperson, HAMA Yutaka says, “Cats in Tashiro-jima are thought to be guardian deities that bring fishermen in a good catch. They are like members of the family.”
Meiji era novelist, NATSUME Soseki became famous after writing “I am a Cat,” a book based on his pet cat. It is said that an elderly lady in the neighborhood told the novelist that, “This cat will bring you good fortune.” To the Japanese, cats are a cute and lucky animal.
Wakayama Electric Railway Co., Ltd.
Nyalan
Nyanko the Project
Text: SAZAKI Ryo
[2012年11月号掲載記事]
日本のお店には、よく猫の置物が飾られています。猫が座って片手または両手を耳の横まであげている姿をした置物です。これは「招き猫」と呼ばれる縁起物(幸運を引き寄せる置物)です。招き猫の手つきは、日本人が人を呼ぶときにするジェスチャーとよく似ています。そのため招き猫は、お客や幸運を呼ぶといわれているのです。
日本の農村では、米を食い荒らすネズミをとらせるために猫を飼う習慣がありました。さらに日本人は動物も神になれると考えたため、猫を神社やお寺でまつったりしました。このような文化が招き猫の背景と考えられます。現代ではかわいい猫が人気を呼び、地元や企業にとっての招き猫となる現象が見られます。
和歌山県には、ローカル線や地元にとっての招き猫となった猫がいます。日本では猫に「たま」と名づけることが多いのですが、この和歌山電鐵株式会社の猫も「たま」といいます。貴志川線貴志駅の正式な駅長で和歌山電鐵の執行役員でもあり、和歌山県からも「和歌山でナイト」など称号をもらっている「たま卿」なのです。
たま卿はもともと貴志駅の隣にある売店で飼われていた猫でした。貴志川線のオーナーが替わったとき、売店の人が新しい社長に「たまの住むところがなくなるので駅舎内に住まわせてくれませんか」と頼みました。社長がたまと初めて対面して目があった瞬間、たまの駅長姿が目に浮かびました。さらに、「駅長になるので助けて下さい」とたまが言ったように感じました。こうしてたまは無人駅でもあった貴志駅の駅長に任命されました。
「たま駅長」は大人気となりました。マスコミに多く取り上げられましたし、あいに来たお客はたまの人見知りしない様子や、きれいな三色の毛並みに感心しました。ある大学教授は、「たまのおかげで1年に約11億円の経済効果が和歌山県内にもたらされた」と調査発表しました。赤字で廃止の予定だった貴志川線は、助けた猫に助けられたのです。
「たまにあうための観光バスが来ない日はありません」と広報の山木慶子さんは話します。「たまのグッズを玄関に置いておいたら仕事が舞い込んだ、たまにあったら恋が実った、とお礼を言いにわざわざ来てくださる方もいるんですよ」。
たまは高齢なので、「部下」のニタマにも仕事を任せています。ニタマはたまと同じ三毛猫で、同じく人なつこいことから「採用」されました。普段は伊太祈曽駅で駅長をつとめ、たまが貴志駅を休むときには「貴志駅長代行」をしています。
猫をPR用のキャラクターにしたところ、大人気となったケースもあります。株式会社リクルートライフスタイルが運営する旅情報のサイト「じゃらん」は、ブランドイメージを上げるために「にゃらん」という名の猫を採用しました。にゃらんが旅に出るCMは話題となって、DVDが発売されたり、にゃらんがTwitterを始めたりするようになりました。
最近ではにゃらんに「弟子」ができ、一緒に旅しているCMが話題になりました。それをきっかけにTwitterでは、1ヵ月で4万人以上のフォロワーが増え、中国でもとても話題になりました。
「にゃらんのTwitterはフォロワーが今約6万人います。フォロワーの皆さんのコメントや、リツイートの数を見るとにゃらんの人気を実感します」と編集部の宮下真衣子さんは話します。「第一弾のDVDがとても好評だったので第二弾を企画しているんですよ」。
復興に役立っているのが田代島の猫たちです。ここは宮城県石巻市にある広さ3.14平方キロメートルの島で、約70人が住んでいます。日本の地方や離島はたいてい高齢化と過疎の問題に悩んでいて、田代島も例外ではありません。漁やカキの養殖など、漁業を主な産業としていますが、住民の約8割が高齢者で、活性化が必要になっていました。
そのような田代島の人々にとって意外なことに、数年前からカメラを手にした観光客が増えてきました。実は田代島は、猫神社で猫をまつったり売り物にならない魚を猫にやったりと、猫を大事にする習慣がある島です。そのため猫が増えて「人より猫が多い島」とマスコミに取り上げられ、猫好きな人たちが訪れるようになったのです。
島民の中には観光客のマナーの悪さを嫌う人もいました。しかし猫で島を活性化しようという動きも生まれました。猫型の看板を立てるなど、観光客のための取組みを始めました。しかしその矢先の2011年3月11日、島は東日本大震災に襲われたのです。
カキの養殖場は津波に壊されてしまいました。国や自治体の支援は被災地が広すぎてなかなか決まらないので、島の人たちは自分たちで復興の資金集めに取りかかりました。そして「にゃんこ・ザ・プロジェクト」という、出資すると数年後にカキをもらえるプロジェクトを始めました。
「にゃんこ」とは猫を意味する言葉です。島の人たちは、猫たちを心配する声が寄せられたことを考えて、お金は猫の世話にも使うこと、出資すると猫のグッズをもらえることなどをプロジェクトの条件に加えました。するとわずか3ヵ月で目標の1億5千万円が集まりました。あまりにも早くお金が集まったため、急いで募集を締め切らなければならなかったほどです。
「今年の3月、プロジェクトを社団法人にしました。支援金でカキの養殖場をなおして、うまくいけば来年から支援者の方にカキを送ることができます。流されてしまった公衆トイレもつくりなおしています」と、理事長の尾形千賀保さんは言います。広報担当の濱温さんは「田代島では、猫は大漁を招く守り神だと言い伝えられてきました。とても身近で、同居人のような存在なんですよ」と話します。
明治時代の作家、夏目漱石は、飼い猫をモデルに「我輩は猫である」という本を書いて有名になりました。この飼い猫についても近所のおばあさんが「この猫は福を呼びますよ」と言ったと伝えられています。日本人にとって猫は、かわいくて縁起がいい存在です。
文:砂崎良
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