By Sean Coombs
Expo Reporter
OSAKA, Japan —The Canadian classic Anne of Green Gables has long had a following in Japan. No surprise then that one of the hit attractions at the Canada Pavilion at the Osaka Expo has been showings of the new Japanese anime series Anne Shirley.
Produced by Fuji Creative and the Anne Shirley Production Committee for the Japanese national broadcasters NHK E TV channel, Anne Shirley retells the traditional story some 117 years after the famed book was published in Prince Edward Island by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery.
A new episode comes out each week, with multiple showings happening at the pavilion stage in between other performances, sponsored by the government of P.E.I as a part of its representation at the pavilion.
Anne Shirley producer Yoshiko Nakayama said in an interview that Anne of Green Gables is what many Japanese people have known about Canada from a young age.
“Generations of Japanese people watched Anne Shirley on TV as a fun and educational character, so she’s really the perfect cultural ambassador to represent Canada,” Nakayama said.
As a big fan of Anne of Green Gables herself — she’s visited the Green Gables historic site many times — Nakayama is overjoyed that she’s been able to put her passion to work by curating an anime series for everyone to enjoy at the pavilion.
“We coordinated with the P.E.I Tourism Board and the Canadian Embassy to create this series, even before we found a TV channel to broadcast it,” she said. “So, we began this all the way back in 2023 to curate this series specifically for the pavilion to recreate an accurate telling of the Anne Shirley story Japanese people love.”
Visitors from all across Japan have watched the episodes during their pavilion visit.
“I mostly sat down at the stage to take a break from the heat,” said Aichi prefecture resident Yuki Sano. “But I remember watching Anne of Green Gables on TV as a kid, so it was very nostalgic to see this story again. It’s really my first memories of how I learned about Canada.”
Anne of Green Gables is indeed well known in Japan across the generations, as multiple anime shows and books have been published since the 1960s, popularizing the character not only as a symbol of P.E.I., but of Canada as a whole.
This has led to P.E.I and the Green Gables historic site in Cavendish becoming a top tourism destination for Japanese tourists in North America, with the island competing with Niagara Falls and Banff as Canada’s top Japanese tourist destination.
Japanese people indeed love the story of Anne Shirley, as evidenced by the many children who have watched the series at the pavilion stage every week.
“I wanted to show my daughter what I watched when I was a kid,” said Horie Sazao. “It was so cute seeing the Anne Shirley statue inside the pavilion too. I think the Canada pavilion is the cutest one at the Expo.”
The Anne Shirley series will continue with new episodes each week until the Expo ends in October.
Canadians can watch the Anne Shirley series on the streaming site Crunchyroll.