On Sunday, thousands of mourners gathered in the rural Wakayama prefecture of Japan to they pay their respects to 'Tama the Cat' the feline icon who saved an abandoned railway station from financial ruin.

Tama, known as 'Japan's most famous cat', acquired cultural celebrity status in 2007 when she was named the honorary stationmaster of the unmanned Kishi Railway Station in Wakayama prefecture.

The former stray cat quickly became a tourist attraction as travellers far and wide journeyed to the station to see Tama wave them off while decked out in her miniature stationmaster's cap. Her presence is credited with reinvigorating the Kishigawa rail line, which was saddled with crippling debts prior to her appointment.

According to The Guardian, the nine mile long train line was hemmoraging 500M yen ($4M) a year while servicing a meagre 5,000 passengers a day. When Tama was brought on in 2007, passenger numbers grew 10% to about 2.1M and overall her presence added an estimated 1.1bn yen to the local economy.

Funeral goers showed their gratitude to the cat, who died of a heart failure at 16 years of age, by honouring her with the posthumous status of Shinto Goddess. Mourners lined the Station with pictures of Tama and made offerings of flowers and cans of Tuna.

Train operators thanked the cat for attracting visitors from around the world and breathing new life into the station. Railway President, Mistuobu Kojima gave her the title of "honorary permanent stationmaster." Kojima said that Tama is set to be enshrined in a nearby shrine dedicated to cats this coming August.

Yoshinobu Nisaka, the governor of Wakayama, called Tama a "superstar of tourism" and expressed his sadness at the loss.