Top 10 Richest People in Japan 2011

1. Masayoshi Son: $8.1 billion

Masayoshi Son born August 11, 1957 in born a Zainichi Korean and now a naturalized Japanese citizen, is a businessman and the founder and current chief executive officer of Soft Asia's leading internet venture, Softbank, which has become one of Japan's top three mobile networks since 2006 acquisition of Vodaphone Japan.  Son  attended University of California Berkeley and  graduating with  Bachelor of Arts / Science. According to Forbes magazine, his net worth is $8.1 billion as of 2011 and he is the richest man in Japan.  The company has seen strong subscriber growth in recent years, thanks partly to its long-exclusive license to offer iPhones, a legacy of Son's longstanding personal friendship with the late Steve Jobs.This 53 year old man has two children and lives in Tokyo as their resident. Son was the biggest individual donor to earthquake relief efforts; he gave $125 million to a dozen organizations including Japanese Red Cross and pledged all his future Soft bank salary pay to support quake orphans.

2. Tadashi Yanai & family : $7.6 billion

Tadashi Yanai born February 7, 1949) is founder and president  of Fast Retailing, of which Uniqlo is subsidiary. He is routinely  ranked as one of richest men in Japan, and in 2009 he was ranked  76th richest man in world according to Forbes. This 62 year old man has $7.6 billion. He has two children and lives in Tokyo now. Yanai attended Ube High School and later Waseda University, graduating in 1971 with a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Politics. In 1984, he opened his first Uniqlo store in Hiroshima. Yanai won the International Retailer of Year award for 2010 from the National Retail Federation in US. He was  only the fourth Japanese national to win it, and the first since Masatoshi Ito (the owner and honorary chairman of the Ito-Yokado retailing group) in 1998. He was also chosen as best company president in a survey of Japanese corporate executives by Sanno Institute of Management in 2008 and 2009. In March 2011, Yanai donated 1 billion yen to victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. 

3. Akira Mori & family: $6.8 billion

Akira Mori born July 12, 1936 in Tokyo is the president and CEO of the Mori Trust. His father, Taikichiro Mori, founded Mori Building, the company his older brother Minoru now 

heads, following World War II, and was ranked by Forbes as

the richest man in the world in 1991 and 1992. Following 

their father's death in 1993, the former Mori Building company  split into the Mori Building Company now headed by Minoru and Mori Trust, headed by Akira. He and brother Minoru, also a billionaire, inherited initial fortune from father but went their separate ways unable to agree on a business strategy. With his part has continued to build his Mori Trust, owner of office buildings, apartment blocks and hotels in high-rent districts of Tokyo. Akira Moris and family have taken the place with their $6.8 billion wealth. Their business is focused on the Mori Trust real estate. He has 3 children and lives in Tokyo.Akira's hobbies: golf, Japanese chess and reading.

 

 4. Kunio Busujima & family: $5.9 billion

 

Kunio Busujima born April 1, 1925 is the founder and 

chairman of Sankyo, one of the three major pachinko machine

makers in Japan. He attended Kiryu Comm & Tech University   graduating Bachelor of Arts / Science. He stepped down as chairman in 2008; remains a director and senior adviser. Son Hideyuki is chairman and chief executive. Outfit has turned to comic book and movie characters like Star Wars' Darth Vader to help bolster salesAccording to Forbes in May 2011, he is the fourth-wealthiest person in Japan with an estimated net worth of US$5.9 billion He has four children and now lives in Gunma.

 5. Hiroshi Mikitani: $5.6 billion

In the fifth rank of this Japan richest list, you may see Hiroshi Mikitani. His e-commerce business has taken him to get the wealth up to $5.6 billion dollar. Founded   Rakuten in February 1997 is one of the world's largest Internet service companies. Among its numerous online  properties, its flagship B2B2C (business-to-business- to-consumer) model e-commerce site Rakuten Ichiba is the largest e-commerce site in Japan and among the world's largest by sales. Plans to set up shop in 27 countries over next 4 years, beginning in  Taiwan. Broadcasting play thwarted last year when Tokyo Broadcasting System, in which he has 20% stake, reorganized itself under a holding company.This 46 year old man now lives in Tokyo.

  

 6. Hiroshi Yamauchi: $4.6 billion

Hiroshi Yamauchi (born November 7, 1927 in Kyoto, Japan  is a Japanese businessman. He was the third president of Nintendo, joining the company in 1949 until stepping down on May 31, 2002, to be succeeded by Satoru Iwata. Yamauchi is credited with transforming Nintendo from a small hanafuda card-making company in Japan to a multi-billion dollar video game company. He also became the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners baseball team in 1992, which is now managed by former Nintendo of America chairman Howard Lincoln. Hiroshi was sent to a preparatory school in Kyoto at age twelve and had planned to study law or engineering but World War II disrupted his studies. Since he was too young to fight he was put to work in a military factory. Once the war ended in 1945 Hiroshi went to Waseda University to study law but later leave his studies. He married Michiko Inaba. With the absence of Yamauchi’s father, his grandparents met to arrange the marriage In 1949, Yamauchi's grandfather, the incumbent president of Nintendo, suffered a stroke. As he had no other immediate successor, he asked Hiroshi to come immediately to Nintendo to assume the position of president. This man has 4.6 billion dollar from his Nintendo business. This 83 year old man has 2 children and lives in Kyoto.

 7. Takemitsu Takizaki: $3.8 billion

Takemitsu Takizaki 61 years old was born in Japan. Now Takemitsu Takizaki is live in Japan . Takemitsu Takizaki has amassed an enormous fortune from self made. With an estimated current net worth of around $2.8 billion, he is ranked by Forbes (2007) as the 333th-richest person in world. Founder of Keyence, a leading supplier of sensors like photoelectric eyes and other electronic devices for factory automation systems. At a shareholder meeting last year he won only 80% of votes for reappointment as chairman, despite holding 25% of shares himself.

8. Eitaro Itoyama: $3.0 billion

Eitaro Itoyama  born June 4, 1942 in Tokyo, Japan is one of Japan's wealthiest citizens with a fortune estimated to exceed $ 3 billion. He is a controversial figure in Japanese political and commercial life. Itoyama has served four terms as a member of the Diet, the Japanese Parliament with nearly twenty years of active involvement in the ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party. He is also the Chairman and benefactor of an eponymous educational institution. He is  onetime lawmaker derives bulk of fortune from 9 country clubs and a golf driving range.and holds a 5% stake in TV Tokyo. Itoyama is one of the largest shareholders and is a prominent investor activist within national airline JAL, publicly calling for significant changes to management and business structures, detailing his vision for change on his personal website. JAL management recently moved to compromise with Itoyama by appointing him Special Adviser to the Chief Executive Officer, signaling a possible conclusion to hostilities after six years of highly public disagreement. He is also a best-selling author, with books on political and business subjects. Eitaro Itoyama is placed on the eighth position of the Japan richest list. He has married and has two children.

9. Katsumi Tada: $2.9 billion

On the ninth place, we get Katsumi Tada. The net worth of this man is counted at 2.9 billion dollar. He is 65 years old now. His business is focused on the real estate. This married man now lives in Tokyo.  Founder of Japanese commerical and residential developer, Daito Trust Construction, Katsumi Tada stepped down as chairman in June. He received a $40 million paying package as a reward for successfully leading the company in a faltering real estate market. His retirement comes on the heels of selling his stake back to Daito Trust Construction in March, netting nearly $2 billion. The company sustained property damage after Japan's earthquake; 14 properties under construction and 176 managed properties (including 94 within 30 kilometer radius of the nuclear power plant zone) have been written off and required repair. Still stock is up over the past 12 months.

 10. Masahiro Miki: $2.7 billion

Masahiro Miki is the founder of ABC Mart, Japan's fast-growing discount shoe retailer which operates some 650 stores in Japan, and smaller chains in Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, selling brand-name and private label footwear. Though sales are increasing, profits are down; company stock price is down 13% over the past year. ABC Mart sold official "Save Japan" tee-shirts to raise money for disaster relief last year. Miki himself is a former amateur boxer. He attended Toho Gakuen tanki University  graduating Bachelor of Arts / Science.