ForbesAsia-April2018

ANDREU DALMAU/EFE/NEWSCOM

1. MASAYOSHI SON
   $21.9 BILLION
   SOFTBANK AGE: 60
   2. TADASHI YANAI
   $19.3 BILLION S
   FAST RETAILING
   AGE: 69


2. NOBUTADA SAJI
   $18 BILLION S
   SUNTORY AGE: 72


3. TAKEMITSU TAKIZAKI
   $17.6 BILLION S
   KEYENCE AGE: 72


4. AKIRA MORI
   $6.6 BILLION S
   MORI TRUST
   AGE: 81


5. SHIGENOBU NAGAMORI
   $5.5 BILLION S
   NIDEC AGE: 73


6. HIROSHI MIKITANI
   $5.4 BILLION T
   RAKUTEN AGE: 53


7. KEIICHIRO TAKAHARA
   $5.2 BILLION S
   UNICHARM
   AGE: 87


8. AKIO NITORI
   $4.8 BILLION S
   NITORI AGE: 74


9. HIDEYUKI BUSUJIMA
   $4.6 BILLION
   SANKYO AGE: 65


10. YASUMITSU SHIGETA
    $4.3 BILLION S
    HIKARI TSUSHIN
    AGE: 53


11. KOBAYASHI BROTHERS
    $4.1 BILLION S
    KOSE


12. MASAHIRO MIKI
    $4 BILLION
    ABC-MART
    AGE: 62


13. MASATOSHI ITO
    $3.9 BILLION
    SEVEN & I HOLDINGS
    AGE: 93


14. MINORU & YUJI OTSUKA
    $3.4 BILLION S
    OTSUKA


15. KAZUO OKADA
    $3 BILLION S
    UNIVERSAL ENTERTAINMENT
    AGE: 75


16. CHANG-WOO HAN
    $2.8 BILLION T
    MARUHAN
    AGE: 87

THE LIST

SUP MORE THAN 10% TDOWN MORE THAN 10%

ÌNEW TO LIST^3 RETURNEE

To help fuel sales at his e-commerce firm Rakuten, Hiroshi Mikitani joined the crypto craze in February, announcing plans

for a new currency, Rakuten Coin. It’s not so out of the blue. Rakuten established a blockchain research lab in 2016 and

briefly took Bitcoin payments in the U.S. Rakuten Coin, which has yet to be launched, will be linked to existing customers’

reward points and usage on Rakuten’s multiple e-commerce sites. “We have been preparing to do this for a long, long

time,” Mikitani said at a conference in February. “This is not something we just came up with.” —James Simms

HIROSHI MIKITANI: USE MY CRYPTOCURRENCY

APRIL 2018 FORBES ASIA | 71