Tama-chan promoted to Super Station Chief after one year as regular Station Chief. Gets new house.

interview

LetsJapan: What did you do before you were appointed Stationmaster?
Tama-chan : I was being taken care of by an old lady who owned a shop next to Kishikawa station.

LJ: She provided for you.
Tc: Yeah. She tried to keep me in a cat house in the street.

LJ: How did you get this job?
Tc: Well, the government told her my house had to be moved off the road, so she got this wacky idea and suggested putting the kitty hut in the station.

LJ: And the stationmaster agreed.
Tc: He saw my potential. Be the mascot, get some attention, improve the decreasing usage of this route. He made me Station Chief.

LJ: That’s a nice hat.
Tc: I hate it.

LJ: Why?
Tc: I have to wear it all day. I can’t lay down on my right side. Dogs and birds can sneak up on me from the right. And half the time they can’t even put it on straight.

LJ: You’ve posed for a photo book, you have a poster, postcards.
Tc: I earned it! I lived in that stupid pink cage for a year.

LJ: What’s next for Tama Chan?
Tc: Get me out of here. This is humiliating.

Photos: top, right Photozou/Tama-chan album

Video YouTube ; story, video TBS ; story, photo Petwalker

Photos: left Kishigawa-sen blog, right Photozou/Tama-chan album
Tama-chan goods, book; Wakayama line; Ryobi Holdings PR

The Daily Yomiuri reports that a ?disaster relief vending machine? which can be enabled to dispense goods for free during a natural disaster, has been installed outside a police box in Maebashi.

And the Maebashi machine is not the only one. There are 20 similar vending machines in Shizuoka.

In fact, vending machines that become free-of-charge after a disaster or major quake have been available nationally at least since 2003.

When an earthquake of 5 or higher on the seismic intensity scale, or a similar disaster occurs, and if the anti-disaster headquarters is activated, the items in the special vending machines will be offered free of charge. An emergency power supply keeps the machines operating.

Seishin venderDydo

To attract interest from homemakers and young women, and to improve its image, the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force is publishing navy recipes on its website.

The MSDF is posting recipes for two dishes each week. Recipes for Japanese, Western and Chinese dishes that are served in the navy are being revealed.

The original recipes serve 100 people, so the MSDF had to work out recipes for four servings.

Curry is a MSDF favorite, and it has 60 curry recipes. A MSDF tradition is to eat curry rice on the weekends, to remind the ship crew what day it is.

The first curry recipe was released on January 1, 2008. The recipe includes barbecue sauce, minced white peach and a milk-like beverage.

An official of the Maritime Staff Office’s public relations office said it would be good if dishes made by the public based on the recipes helped start up conversations about the MSDF over dinner.

Photos clockwise from top: MSDF Website; crab rice pilaf; ginger pork. FULL STORY