TOM'S driver Alesi was fighting the ThreeBond machine of Fukuzumi for eighth place in the closing stages of the 41-lap race when the pair came to blows approaching Turn 1 at the start of lap 36.
The incident brought out a safety car period that effectively ended the race early, as the clean-up operation could not be completed in time for green flag action to resume due to the volume of dirt left the track.
Alesi was handed a four-place grid drop for Sunday's second round at Fuji for triggering the incident.
The Frenchman regretted that he was unable to capitalise on the chance to score points after making solid progress from a lowly 18th place on the grid.
"It was my misjudgement, I realised that when I watched it from the outside," Alesi said. "I think the most important thing is to make sure this type of mistake doesn’t happen again.
"I spoke to Nirei; I was worried whether he had an injury, but he seemed to be ok. And of course, I apologised to him.
"We would have both liked to finish in the points, and not finish like that. It’s a shame because we were battling for points."
Fukuzumi told Motorsport.com that he was taken by surprise by Alesi's attack as he had been defending the inside line approaching Turn 1.
"I had the feeling that I had completely closed off the inside line, and so I was sure he would not come to the inside," recalled Fukuzumi. "But then Alesi came inside the white line, which meant he ran off the track, and then he hit me.
"I couldn’t believe it. Now it’s over and it can’t be helped, but I had a rare chance to score some points, so I am extremely frustrated."
Both Alesi and Fukuzumi however were upbeat about their performances prior to the clash that took them out of contention, and are hoping that Sunday's second Fuji race offers another chance for a top-10 finish.
"The pace was not bad, it was a decent start to the season," said Alesi, whose only points finish of 2022 came at Fuji. "We had more potential in qualifying, it didn’t help at all starting from P18.
"We still have to learn more about the tyres, because they are still a big question mark. We are learning lap by lap. I think tomorrow we can be in the points again, so it’s about managing everything and putting it all together."
Fukuzumi concluded: "The conditions were a lot different from the Suzuka test [where he struggled]. We have to do better in qualifying, but I want to take what I learned today and use it for future races."
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