Forbes: Japan's 50 Richest

Overall, the wealth of 38 members on the list dropped from a year ago, with just three eking out modest gains. Clothing retailer Tadashi Yanai, who was the second richest last year, reclaimed the title of the country's richest person though his fortune slid by 44% to $23.6 billion. A slowdown in sales in the domestic market, as well as in China, impacted shares of his Fast Retailing, the parent of the Uniqlo store chain. Takemitsu Takizaki, founder of sensor-maker Keyence climbed to No. 2 for the first time with $21.6 billion, although his wealth too declined by $4.2 billion from a year ago. Last year's high flier and former numero uno, SoftBank Group founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, took the biggest hit in both dollar and percentage terms. His net worth more than halved to $21.1 billion and he slipped to the third position. Amid a global tech rout, SoftBank's two Vision Funds reported a record $27 billion net loss for the year ended March 2022. Apart from Son, a dozen others saw their fortunes fall by more than $1 billion.

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The fortunes of 16 tycoons on the list were higher than a year ago, including Uniqlo billionaire Tadashi Yanai, who retained the top spot with a net worth of USD38 billion, up by USD2.6 billion. The biggest gainer in dollar terms was SoftBank Group's Masayoshi Son, who reclaimed the No. 2 position after adding USD6.1 billion to take his wealth to USD27 billion. SoftBank cashed in more than USD5 billion from selling shares in the September IPO of its subsidiary, U.K. chip designer Arm Holdings, which now has a market cap exceeding USD100 billion.

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