TAMA, THE CALICO The First Feline Stationmaster in All of Japan
During the mid-2000s, the Kishi Train Station in Japan began to deteriorate. By 2006, Kishi Station was left completely unstaffed because of low ridership and financial problems. However, one last resident still remained after everyone else was long gone: a black, white, and tan cat named Tama. Tama first appeared at the station as a young cat in the late 1990s. She lived near the train station and would visit commuters daily to receive affection and the occasional treat. But, as it turned out, her continued visits to Kishi Station would end up playing a much bigger role for the station. The same year it became unstaffed, residents living near the station asked the president of the Wakayama Electric Railway, Mitsunobu Kojima, to revive the station because the cat’s survival Spring finally arrived in Texas, and with it came the spring-cleaning fever. All over our neighborhoods, people are hauling junk out of their garages, deep-cleaning their closets, and refreshing their bathrooms with inspiration from Marie Kondo. If you’ve caught the spring-cleaning fever, here’s a tip: Don’t forget to tackle your teeth! You’ve probably heard 1,000 times that it’s important to brush twice a day and floss at least once, but did you know that same advice applies to implants as well as natural teeth? If you’ve taken advantage of our services and have one or more implants brightening your smile, it’s vital that you keep them clean. If you brush and floss between your implants regularly, they’ll look better, last longer, and contribute to the overall health of your mouth. If you’re not convinced yet, here are three simple reasons to keep up good implant hygiene. 1 Flossing and brushing can stave off gum disease. By keeping your implants clean and free of food particles, you’re doing your gums a favor! Plaque can build up on implants just
depended on it. It turns out Tama’s original owner had asked the railway workers to care for her before he moved away — he couldn’t bear to take her from the station she loved to visit so much. So, Kojima decided to go meet Tama. He liked her immediately and adopted her. A year later, Tama was officially named the Stationmaster of Kishi Station, the first cat stationmaster in Japan. To complete her look, Kojima gave her a small conductor hat to wear as she greeted commuters from her window perch inside the ticket gates. As an official stationmaster, Tama became well known all across Japan and throughout the world. She appeared in the media and on promotional materials that soon brought much-needed foot traffic to Kishi Station. Thousands of tourists came rushing to Kishi to see Tama for themselves,
ride the Tamaden carriage, and pick up Tama merchandise inside the station.
Tama brought joy to all commuters for the next several years before passing away in 2015. Nearly 3,000 people attended her funeral, and her legacy lives on. Tama’s successors continue as stationmasters: Nitama, who serves as Kishi stationmaster, and assistant Yontama at Idakiso, five stations away. Tama’s friendly and loving nature impacted many people around her, and she will always be affectionately known as the cat who saved the Japanese train station.
DON’T FORGET TO SPRING-CLEAN YOUR TEETH! 3 Reasons to Keep Your Implants Sparkling
3 With proper care, your implants can last a lifetime. Success rates for dental implants are remarkably high, between 90%–95%, but in order to get those results, you need to keep your implants clean. Poor maintenance and gum disease have both been linked to implant rejection. In addition to home care, it’s smart to keep your implants spick and span with regularly scheduled in-office cleanings. Here at Texas Sedation Dental & Implant Center, we offer several types of cleanings tailored specifically to your needs, implants included. To schedule your spring- cleaning, visit TexasSedationDental.com today.
as easily as on natural teeth, so it’s necessary to clear it away. If you don’t, your gums could swell, turn red, and start to ache, potentially even requiring surgery. 2 Your breath will improve (and your love life might too). A clean mouth is crucial to fresh breath, so if you don’t clean your implants, your breath will suffer — and your romantic life might too. According to Colgate, “In a recent Philippines-based survey, some 81% of people said that they would rather be kissed by an average-looking person with good breath than a hunk with bad breath.”
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