is a former Japanese football player. He has previously played for Shimizu S-Pulse, Nagoya Grampus, Yokohama F. Marinos and the Japan national team. He is a left-footed play-making midfielder. Playing career Early years Fujimoto was educated at and played for Toko Gakuen High School, during which time he was also a member of the U-17 Japanese National Team for the 2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship hosted by Trinidad and Tobago. Fujimoto played three games in the competition but the team was eliminated after the group stage. After graduating high school Fujimoto received an offer from J2 League side Kawasaki Frontale, but he decided to continue his study and play football at the University of Tsukuba. He was a member of the national team for the 2005 Universiade held at İzmir, Turkey. Fujimoto was the top scorer with six goals and was selected as the MVP of the competition. Club Upon graduating university Fujimoto joined Shimizu S-Pulse in 2006 and inherited jersey number 10 from Masaaki Sawanobori. During his first full professional season Fujimoto played in 28 league games and scored 8 goals. He was awarded the J-League Young Player of the Year Award. He was seriously injured in late season of 2008 and made a comeback goal against Kyoto Sanga FC via direct free kick on 19 August 2009. Fujimoto left Shizuoka in 2011 and moved west to join defending J.League champions Nagoya Grampus. He spent 3 seasons with Nagoya and scored 14 goals in 94 games as they finished 2nd, 7th and 10th in the league between 2011 and 2013. 2014 saw him join Yokohama F. Marinos where, now in his 30s, he found his playing time slightly curtailed, scoring 3 goals in 26 games in his first year and then playing only 19 times in his final year in Japan's second largest city, once again finding the back of the net 3 times. He signed for Gamba Osaka ahead of the 2016 season and in his first 3 years at the club he was never able to establish himself as a first-team regular for any sustained period of time. He made just 13 league appearances in his first season with the men in blue and black, 14 the following year, before at the age of 34 playing 21 out of Gamba's 34 league games to help them to 9th in the final league standings. On August 21, 2020