He was born in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, the son of silent-film actor Rintarō Fujima, and started his career as a comedian in 1952.

He starred as Nakamura Mondo, a samurai, in sixteen Hissatsu series on Asahi Broadcasting Corporation from 1973.

A committed pacifist, Fujita always carried a letter from his elder brother, who died in the Battle of Okinawa during World War II.

It took him over 60 years, Fujita revealed, before he could finally visit Okinawa, where he threw rice balls into the ocean as an offering to the war victims.

[1] To convey his antiwar message, Fujita devoted all his energy into the 2007 movie Best Wishes for Tomorrow (Ashita he no Yuigon), in which he portrayed a class-B war criminal sentenced to death following Japan's surrender.