Everything 'Anne' continues to draw Montgomery-loving fans from Japan to P.E.I.

CBC's Island Morning is presenting a weekly summer feature, speaking to different tour guides around Prince Edward Island about the tours they give and why you should take them. This piece was prepared for the second week.

Nearly 75 years after Anne of Green Gables was introduced to Japan, 2025 is proving to be "a really good year" for P.E.I. Select Tours, which has an Anne-themed tour tailor-made for tourists from that country.

Katsue Masuda, who grew up in Japan reading Lucy Maud Montgomery's novels set on Prince Edward Island, is the firm's operations manager, giving Japanese tourists the deep dive into all things Anne.

Masuda said the story of red-haired orphan Anne Shirley has been popular in Japan ever since Montgomery's first novel about her was translated into Japanese in 1952.

"Hanako Muraoka did a great, wonderful translation; that was right after the World War Two," she said.

"Japanese people wanted new books and needed hope, resilience and so on, so that story resonated with the Japanese people back then."

Personally, Masuda received her first Anne book when she was in elementary school.

"When I was [in] Grade 3, first book I got was Anne of Green Gables, and every year my mother gave me on my birthday an Anne sequel." 

Island Morning7:1430 years of Anne of Green Gables Japanese tours

 If you've lived on P.E.I. for any amount of time, you likely know that the Island attracts many Japanese tourists who visit sites related to Anne of Green Gables. Today on Tour Guide Tuesday, we meet Katsue Masuda, who runs Anne-themed tours just for Japanese tourists.

There used to be an animated series based on the novel, and this past spring a new anime series called Anne Shirley was released.

Those adaptations, in addition to the books themselves, have made the franchise perennially popular in Japan.

A 7-hour tour

Masuda said the Anne of Green Gables tour with commentary in Japanese takes place over seven hours, including sites from Charlottetown all the way to Cavendish, the inspiration for Montgomery's fictional Avonlea.

"Starting from Charlottetown, we take them to Cavendish, show them Cavendish Beach, and of course… Green Gables Heritage Place, and [the] grave site of Lucy Maud Montgomery," she said.

"Also [the] Cavendish post office, and that is whole morning. And then lunch is in North Rustico, usually Fishermen's Wharf [for] a whole lobster lunch."

She said the lobster lunch is a big hit with the people who take her tours: "Japanese people love seafood. Anne and lobster is a big thing."

In the afternoon, the tour continues to New London to see Montgomery's birthplace, followed by the French River lookout; the Anne of Green Gables Museum at Park Corner, including what Montgomery considered her "Lake of Shining Waters"; and the old Kensington train station.

Other locations include the Bideford Parsonage Museum, the Sir Andrew MacPhail Homestead in Orwell, the Confederation Centre of the Arts, and finally the Robertson Library and the L.M. Montgomery Institute at the University of Prince Edward Island.

Tours for Japanese tourists can be booked on the Select Tours website, and the office can be found on the first floor of the Delta Hotel in downtown Charlottetown.

Masuda said tours can handle just two people or 10 or 15 people at once. Select Tours also offers advice and services for those who wish to stay longer or even move to P.E.I.