Surprisingly, the least interesting thing about H. Shozo studied British and American luxury service for seven years before he took over as manager of his father’s famed Fujiya hotel in 1907, a pioneer in blending Japanese hospitality and Western travel expectations. He was also responsible for opening the Hakone Hotel and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. Amongst it all he co-authored We, Japanese (1934) with the answers to guests most common questions about traditional culture and was a founder of the Fujiya Motorcar Company. The Great Kanto earthquake and impending Second World War plagued his late career and his death is not well recorded. This perhaps explains how such a large life leaves so little evidence behind. Nothing shows in archives. Measures 2 x 3 w/ flea bit chips to emulsion edges and thumb crease bottom left.
