TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Local boy picks up where
George Lucas left offThe new general manager of San Rafael, Calif.-based THX Ltd. is a real bulldog. Really, as in Kaimuki Bulldog.
Ivan Fujihara had served the former Lucasfilm Ltd. division as chief financial officer until his new appointment, announced yesterday. He started with the company in June, helping to lead THX's spin-off from its former parent company.
Not bad for a public school kid from Hawaii.
How you goin' ack?, your columnist asked Fujihara.
Laughing, he said he dare not lapse into pidgin for fear it would take him awhile to snap out of it, making it impossible for his employees to understand him.
Using his best possible English, Fujihara is overseeing the expansion of the THX brand started in 1980 by filmmaker George Lucas to address inconsistent sound quality in movie theaters. Lucas' goal expanded to ensuring that moviegoers had both the best possible movie sound and projection.
THX consults with theater companies from the design-build process on to certification. It reviews theater plans from "how to build the walls and what to put on the walls, to how big the screen is to how to arrange the seats," Fujihara said.
The result is a tested, certified theater where each seat in the house is as good as any other, he said. There are more than 2,700 THX-certified movie theaters around the world, including Signature Theatres at Dole Cannery, "the only THX-certified theater in Hawaii," Fujihara said.
The company and its mission grew to include home entertainment systems. More than 45 manufacturers now make hundreds of home theater products with the THX stamp of approval. Hawaii has three Home THX dealers, according to the company Web site, www.thx.com. And recently the first THX-certified car audio system was rolled out in the 2003 Lincoln LS.
Fujihara's first job after graduating from the University of Hawaii was as a night auditor for the Moana Surfrider Hotel. He later went to work at Verifone and transferred to Redwood City when its headquarters moved 12 years ago.
From accounting he moved into the corporate planning realm in positions with FoundryOne Inc., Metric Equipment Sales Inc., Net Gravity Inc. and Creative Labs Inc. The latter owns an interest in THX, as do Lucasfilm and private investors.
Fujihara and his wife Janine (nee Morita) live in Fremont with two dogs. She works as a payroll coordinator for Trinet, a professional employment organization.
They try to come home once a year but didn't last year. "Last year was the fist year I had not gone back," he said, "I was renovating my house so my family came up to visit me."
The in-laws spent Thanksgiving there, but the California Fujiharas won't be flying home for a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day. "We hardly come home for the holidays because the air fare doubles on us," he said. Spoken like a true finance guy.
How does he stay grounded with such a "tantaran" kine job?
"My wife for one keeps me grounded," he said. "She is the boss at home." Janine is, after all, a Roosevelt Rough Rider.
The other thing that keeps him humble is contact with his family. "When they talk their pidgin to me it reminds me where I came from and that I'm just like them."
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com