Japan’s 50 Richest
BY KERRY A. DOLANRace to the Pinnacle
A familiar name sits on the top of the list, but other titans gain on him.
AKIO KON/BLOOMBERGI
t was a good year for the super-
wealthy in Japan. he Nikkei
stock market rose 7% in the 12
months through late March, the
yen strengthened 6% against the
dollar and the country drew a record
number of foreign tourists. As a result,
80 % of those on our list of Japan’s 50
Richest have larger fortunes than they
had a year ago. Some of the biggest
gains were in sotware, manufacturing,
retail and cosmetics. In total, Japan’s top
50 are worth $186 billion, up from $152
billion last year.
Masayoshi Son holds on to his spot as
No. 1 richest for the second year in a row.
Son’s telecom and investing irm Sotbank
made headlines for buying a signiicant
chunk of Uber at a discounted price in Jan-
uary. hen in late March, Uber announced
it would merge its Southeast Asian business
with Grab—a ride-hailing irm that also
counts Sotbank as an investor. His fortune
rose $1.5 billion to $21.9 billion as investors
sent shares of Sotbank higher.
he biggest gainer in dollar terms
was Ta k e m itsu Takizaki, whose
fortune climbed an impressive $5.1
billion to $17.6 billion. His Tokyo-listed sensors irm, Key-
ence, is beneiting from increasing factory automation, which
requires sensors to monitor the performance of machines and
robots. Sales growth is strong both in Japan and the U.S.
Another manufacturing fortune that soared belongs to
Shigenobu Nagamori, who at $5.5 billion is worth $2 billion
more than a year ago. His irm Nidec makes motors and con-
trol equipment for home appliances and industrial customers
and has operations in the U.S., Mexico, China and the U.K.
here are two newcomers this year. Hiroshi Okura founded
Tokyo-listed skincare and cosmetics irm Noevir Holdings, an
Avon-like direct-selling irm with products inspired by a visit toGermany’s Black Forest region. Noevir’s shares climbed some 60%
in the past year. he other newcomer, Eiichi Kuriwada, chairs SG
Holdings, parent of package delivery irm Sagawa Express. His late
father, Kiyoshi Sagawa, founded the delivery service in 1957.
Notable drop-ofs include Naruatsu Baba, founder of
smartphone game maker Colopl, whose shares fell slightly, and
Kazuo Inamori, founder of manufacturing irm Kyocera. Its
stock dove in the winter on woes in the solar business.
Net worths are based on stock prices and exchange rates
from March 2 3.
Reported by James Simms, Anis Shakirah Mohd Muslimin,
Angel Au-Yeung and Chloe Sorvino.Motor-man Shigenobu Nagamori jumped six places, to $5.5 billion.70 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2018