A Yen For 'Anne Of Green Gables'

Businesses have opened just to serve the Japanese. Bluejay Services, for example, publishes tourist guides in Japanese, selling ads to PEI businesses anxious to attract the free-spending visitors. Charlottetown's premier hotel, the Prince Edward, now offers sushi and sashimi and boasts 10 staffers who speak Japanese. Virtually every business claims someone who speaks a bit of the language. "I get by with 'hello' and 'sterling silver'," says Catrina Lee, a salesclerk at the Anne Shop. But the islanders already have competition for the Green Gables market: it was a Japanese company that last year opened the Anne Shop.

© 1991