Tod Fujiwara, B.S. Physical Therapy
Tod Fujiwara was born and grew up in Seattle, Washington. He attended and graduated from Rainier Beach High School and the University of Washington. After tearing his medial collateral ligament while skiing and undergoing therapy at the UW Sports Medicine Clinic, he decided to pursue a degree in physical therapy. He also had been receiving shiatsu treatments for which he developed a passion, but he found no schools or instructors in Seattle. Finally, a renowned shiatsu therapist in New York City, who was a 7th generation descendant of Benjamin Franklin, helped him find a shiatsu school in Honolulu.
He came to Hawai‘i in 1983, attended the Aisen Shiatsu School and worked there for 15 years. In 1999, Tod and fellow therapist Wendel Watase opened Hikari Shiatsu; therapist Dick Murakami joined them in 2001. They practice Namikoshi style shiatsu which directs thumb and finger pressure to key muscle groups and vital central and autonomic nervous system points, also known as Tsubo. Their meeting Melody Toth, the former University of Hawai‘i co-head trainer, proved to be very fortunate and led to their working with University of Hawai‘i sports teams (wahine volleyball team and men's basketball team), a variety of individual athletes and the Olympic Women's Softball Team.
Hikari Shiatsu (http://www.hikarishiatsu.com/about.html) is located at 1857 South King St., Suite 105, Honolulu, HI 96826-2172 and can be contacted at (808) 955-5125 and hikarishiatsu@yahoo.com.
