Guests stroll through the Fujiya Hotel like wide-eyed tourists drinking in the sights in an exotic port of call. They gaze at the dragon spiraling around a banister, the snake slithering up a support atop which sits a monkey, the elaborately carved tableau of Shogun Minamoto Yoritomo hunting wild boars, the golden damascene reproduction of the Golden Pavilion in a case in the Magic Room.

Yes, the Magic Room, where prewar Chinese magicians performed sleight of hand, and today Japanese illusionists spellbind on a table beyond low antique chairs.

Sennosuke Yamaguchi, fresh from Keio University, had intended the Fujiya to wow. He founded the hotel in 1878 at the urging of philosopher Fukuzawa Yukichi, who said Japan needed a resort hotel for international visitors. Sennosuke chose the Miyanoshita area for its location in Hakone, a favorite spa of Tokyo and Yokohama foreign residents.