Fujikawa was born in Kōchi, Kōchi, in 1980, a member of the so-called Matsuzaka Generation.
Fujikawa was picked in the first round of the 1998 NPB amateur draft by the Hanshin Tigers, one of only four high school pitchers to be selected in the first round (along with Daisuke Matsuzaka, Nagisa Arakaki and Katsutoshi Ishidoh, though Arakaki did not end up signing that year).