1. Tadashi Yanai
According to Forbes, the assets of billionaire Tadashi Yanai and his family currently reach 56.2 billion USD, ranking 31st in the list of the richest people in the world. In early 2025, his assets were 45.1 billion USD. After a year, his assets increased by more than 11 billion USD, reaching the current level.
In Japan, Tadashi Yanai has held the position of the richest person for many years. He is the founder and operator of Fast Retailing, a fashion retail group owned by the Uniqlo store chain, currently listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
2. Masayoshi Son
Forbes' list of world billionaires in 2026 (published on January 11, 2026) recorded Mr. Masayoshi Son's assets reaching 53.7 billion USD, ranking 33rd in the world. In Japan, he is currently the second richest person.
In early 2025, billionaire Masayoshi Son's assets were at 29.4 billion USD. Thus, in just one year, his assets have increased more than 1.8 times, from 29.4 billion USD to 53.7 billion USD.
Masayoshi Son is the founder and operator of SoftBank Group, one of the largest investment groups in the world.
Currently, he is promoting an investment strategy in artificial intelligence (AI) with a scale of tens of billions of USD, notably the 500 billion USD Stargate Project, in cooperation with OpenAI, Oracle and MGX to build a large-scale AI infrastructure in the US.
3. Takemitsu Takizaki
Billionaire Takemitsu Takizaki ranked third in the list of the richest billionaires in Japan at the beginning of 2026, with an estimated fortune of 17.5 billion USD. In Forbes' global super-rich rankings, he ranked 145th.
Takemitsu Takizaki is the founder of Keyence, a business specializing in providing sensors and electronic components for factory automation systems.
4. Hiroshi Mikitani
Ranked fourth in the list of the richest billionaires in Japan is Mr. Hiroshi Mikitani, with assets of about 4.5 billion USD. In Forbes' ranking of the richest people in the world, he ranked 921st.
Mikitani is the founder and CEO of Rakuten, one of Japan's largest e-commerce corporations.
5. Masahiro Nishi
Ranked fifth in the list of the richest people in Japan is billionaire Masahiro Nishi, with an estimated fortune of 3.4 billion USD. He is currently ranked 1,197th in the list of the richest people in the world.
Masahiro Nishi owns a majority stake in the ABC-Mart discount shoe store chain.
