3 days ago
Japan's 50 Richest 2025: As A Stronger Yen Boosts Wealth, Uniqlo Billionaire Tadashi Yanai's Net Worth Hits A Record High
No. 1 Tadashi Yanai.
Toru Hanai/Bloomberg
This story is part of Forbes' coverage of Japan's Richest 2025. See the full list here.
Bracing for the impact of tariffs from the U.S., its biggest export market, Japan cut its economic growth estimate for this year to 0.5% from 1.1%. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was off nearly 2% since we last measured fortunes, but a stronger yen helped to boost collective wealth of the richest by 14% to $228 billion.
Overall 37 people on the list are richer, led by the country's richest person, Uniqlo billionaire Tadashi Yanai, who added more than $10 billion and boosted his fortune to an all-time high of $48.2 billion. Shares of his Fast Retailing were up 20% as it reported double-digit growth in both revenue and net profit for the first six months ended February. Though the company gets only 8% of its revenue from the North American market, it has cut its growth forecast in light of the tariff threat.
Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank Group, which reported its first annual net profit in four years of $7.8 billion for the fiscal year ended March, retained the No. 2 spot. Son is making multibillion dollar investments in AI including in the $500 billion Stargate Project, a joint venture with OpenAI, Oracle and MGX to build AI data centers in the U.S.
Entering the top five ranks for the first time is Yasumitsu Shigeta, chairman of Tokyo-listed mobile phone retailer Hikari Tsushin, which also supplies electricity and gas to small and midsized businesses. Shares of the company were up 62% in the past year on higher sales and profits, lifting Shigeta's net worth to $6.9 billion.
The biggest gainer in percentage terms is video games billionaire Kagemasa Kozuki, whose fortune doubled to $3.5 billion and he moved up nine places to No. 17. His Konami Group, which has racked up over 850 million downloads globally for its eFootball game with Lionel Messi as one of its brand ambassadors, scored another hit selling over two million copies of horror game 'Silent Hill 2' since its October release.
Among the nine whose fortunes fell is the Sekiya family as shares of their chip-equipment maker Disco tumbled nearly 40%, pulling their net worth down by $2.4 billion—nearly a third—to $5 billion. The company was impacted by concerns over tariffs and the rising yen.
The three returnees this year include Shintaro Tsuji, founder of Sanrio, the company behind the iconic Hello Kitty brand, which has regained its sheen under Tsuji's 36-year-old grandson Tomokuni.
Three people dropped off, including Keiichi Shibahara, founder of Amvis Holdings. Shares of the home nursing care provider plunged 80% on reports that it had overcharged customers for services. The company said in March that it had set up a special investigation committee and would be delaying the financial results for the first six months of the fiscal year ending September 2025.
The minimum net worth to qualify for the list rose to $1.2 billion from $980 million in the previous year.
Full Coverage of Japan's Richest 2025:
Editing assistance and reporting by Anuradha Raghunathan. Reporting by James Simms.
Methodology:
This list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges, annual reports and analysts. The ranking lists both individual and family fortunes, including those shared among relatives. Private companies were valued based on similar companies that are publicly traded. Net worths were based on stock prices and exchange rates as of the close of markets on May 9, 2025. The list can also include foreign citizens with business, residential or other ties to the country, or citizens who don't reside in the country but have significant business or other ties to the country. The editors reserve the right to amend any information or remove any listees in light of new information.
