Soichiro Honda’s name may have been on the buildings, but Takeo Fujisawa was just as important a figure in making Honda the global powerhouse it is today. As brilliant as Soichiro Honda was as an engineer, Fujisawa was equally talented as a salesman. This year Fujisawa was posthumously inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan.
The ceremony was held at The Fillmore in Detroit. Serving as the backdrop all night was a display of Honda vehicles, including a Civic CVCC and a Super Cub, arguably the two most important models that helped Honda establish a foothold in the US. Fujisawa passed away in 1988, so the award was received by his grandson (lead image, from left: Automobile Hall of Fame Chairman Jonathon Husby, Honda Chairman Seiji Kuraishi, Takeo Fujisawa’s granddaughter Motoharu Imai, Automobile Hall of Fame President Sarah Cook).
We’ve written about Fujisawa’s contributions to Honda before, but the tribute video really hits home the human aspect. Soichiro Honda and Fujisawa were the best of friends, each one’s talents filling in what the other lacked. Selling motorcycles, then cars in America was viewed as an unattainable dream. Yet, the duo somehow beat the odds and made it happen with resounding success.
Former Vice President of American Honda Hirobumi Nakamura related a touching story of Honda and Fujisawa’s camaraderie. To set the stage, in 1989 Soichiro Honda became the first Japanese auto executive to be inducted into America’s Automotive Hall of Fame. Fujisawa had passed away the previous year.
“After Soichiro-san was inducted Automotive Hall of Fame he visited Mr Fujisawa’s grave in Japan. And he reported to Mr Fujisawa,” Nakamura recalls, “That this induction into the Hall of Fame was for both of them.” They had achieved the impossible and made history in the process. In a strategic move to pave the way for their successors, the two of them even retired from Honda on the same day in 1973. Though Fujisawa’s recognition came 34 years later, it is no less deserved. Like Nakamura says, it’s not hard to imagine Old Man Soichiro and Uncle Fujisawa having a good laugh about it in the afterlife.
Two giants of Japanese industry, both of them in their way the founders of Honda Motor Company, and Mr. Fujisawa was the only one who could tell Honda-san ‘No’ and make it stick.
Together, the two formed a whole bigger than the two men.