Recently there was some sad news regarding a beloved Japanese feline — but luckily, it had a silver lining.
Tama the cat was the first official feline stationmaster of the Kishi railroad station in Kinokawa, Japan, and served the station proudly for over nine years before passing away in late June at the ripe old age of 16.
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Since Tama's passing, her fans have respectfully observed the required mourning time before appointing a new kitty successor.
Now, however, Wakayama Electric Railway president Mitsunobu Kojima has proudly announced that a new cat stationmaster, named Nitama, will be filling Tama's rather petite shoes.
Nitama successfully passed her training at Cat Stationmaster Training School (which sounds like a very magical place), which, according to the Daily Mail, focused heavily on "the ability to demonstrate a relaxed attitude to working with people and a willingness to wear a hat."
"The reason I appointed Nitama as a successor to Tama is that she had teaching experience from Tama directly," Mitsunobu tells CNN. "Tama was very mild and she seldom got angry, though she was strict with her subordinate Nitama."