Lucy Maud Montegomery's famous novel "Anne of Green Gables" is well known in Japan as Akage no An ("red-haired An"). Ever since "An" was published in Japanese in 1952, it has captured the hearts and imaginations of thousands of Japanese girls.
The history of "An" in Japan is quite interesting. The Japanese translator, Hanako Muraoka, was born in 1893 and educated at a Christian school run by Methodist missionaries. The missionaries and other foreigners were deported from Japan when World War II broke out. Muraoka received a copy of "Anne" as a parting gift from her Canadian friend, Loretta Shaw. Muraoka worked on translating the cherished gift throughout the war, taking the manuscript with her into bomb shelters during air raids, and risking punishment for possessing Western literature. After the war, Japan again opened up to foreign ideas and literature, and Muraoka's Akage no An was published with huge success. Muraoka worked as a writer throughout her life, translating other children's classics such as "Little Women" and "The Secret Garden", but "Anne" always remained her favourite. Indeed, although Montegomery's novels have always been popular with girls and women around the world, Japan seems to hold a special regard for Anne. [Fans of Marmalade Boy will recall that Anju-san is nicknamed "An" in reference to her favourite novel.]
"An" became an anime series through "World Masterpiece Theatre", a television animation project created by animators from the famous Studio Ghibli. Each year from the late '70s to the early '90s, "WMT" released an animated version of a different children's classic. In 1979, Hayao Miyazaki and WMT animated Akage no An, bringing a new wave of popularity to the classic tale.
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DVD - Anne of Green Gables (TV 1979)