Top 11 Ultra-Rich Families in Japan and Their Net Worth

Jenny Lee September 13, 2024 | 20:47

The post-World War II resurgence of the Japanese economy, characterized by global brands linked to prominent affluent families. KnowInsiders.com discloses the Top 10 wealthiest families/households in Japan and their substantial assets as of today.

Top 10 Richest Business Families in Japan and Net Worth (Updated)

Wealthiest Business Families in Japan

Overview: Wealthy Households in Japan

In Japan, there are 1.49 million affluent households with a combined net worth of 364 trillion yen, as per the Nomura Research Institute.

It is anticipated that financial institutions will provide assistance to future business owners who are eligible for the wealthy class, as wealthy households and total net financial assets continue to increase.

The number of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth households increased from 1.327 million in 2019 to 158,000 in 2021, marking the highest number since the inception of this estimation in 2005. The number of households in both the wealthy and ultra-rich has steadily increased since 2013, when the Abe administration's economic policy, or "Abenomics," was implemented.

According to a survey conducted by the National Research Institute (NRI), approximately one-third of individuals with financial assets ranging from 100 million to 500 million yen in Japan operate their own businesses. A critical market for financial institutions is the recent emergence of startup managers as business owners. In order to aid startups in the establishment and operation of their businesses, financial institutions must understand and comprehend the concerns and obstacles they encounter.

Top 10 Richest Persons In Japan 2023

(As of August 2023)

Japan's economy is one of the biggest in the world, and it has a long and distinguished history. The number of billionaires in Japan has grown recently, and the country's top 10 richest people collectively have a net worth of more than $192 billion.

As of September 2023, the combined wealth of Japan's 50 wealthiest individuals was $192 billion, up by a double-digit percentage due to a booming stock market (the benchmark index was up 11% since we last measured fortunes).

1. Tadashi Yanai -$37.8 Billion

2. Masayoshi Son -$27 Billion

3. Takemitsu Takizaki -$22.4 Billion

4. Takahito Takahara -$7.3 Billion

5. Masahiro Noda -$4 Billion

6. Shigenobu Nagamori -$4 Billion

7. Masahiro Miki -$3.7 Billion

8. Akio Nitori -$3.5 Billion

9. Hiroshi Mikitani -$2.9 Billion

10. Akira Mori -$2.8 Billion

Check more: The Full List of Japanese Billionaires In 2023 - Who Are The Richest People In Japan?

Top 11 Richest Business Families (Households) in Japan and Their Net Worth

1. Tadashi Yanai & Family: $35.4B

Tadashi Yanai and Family Members - Richest Family in Japan Today

Fast Retailing, the company that owns the Uniqlo chain of clothing stores, was founded and is managed by Tadashi Yanai.

The other brands owned by Fast Retailing are Theory, Helmut Lang, J Brand, and GU.

For the fiscal year that ended in August 2022, the company reported a net profit of $1.2 billion on $17 billion in revenue.

More than 2,400 Uniqlo stores can be found in 25 different countries.

Yanai wants his business to surpass H&M and Inditex (the parent company of Zara) and become the largest retailer in the world.

After serving on the SoftBank Group board for 18 years, Yanai resigned as an independent director in December 2019.

Yanai grew up in a small town in Yamaguchi Prefecture in southwest Japan, living above his parents' clothing shop.

At Fast Retailing, Yanai declared that English was the official language.

2. Nobutada Saji & Family: $10.3B

Nobutada Saji

Shinjiro Torii was the founder of Suntory. In 1899, he opened his first store of wine and Western-style liquors. After his son took charge of the company as the President in 1961, the company expanded into a multi-billion dollar conglomerate with interests from various health foods to alcoholic beverages.

In 2014, Suntory paid $16 billion to acquire U.S. Beam, the company behind Jim Beam and Maker's Mark bourbon.

In 2016, Suntory Holdings promoted Nobuhiro Torii, the founder of Suntory's great-grandfather, to the positions of chief operating officer and executive vice president.

In 1899, Suntory was established.

This estimate of Nobutada Saji's wealth includes any family members' holdings.

3. Hideyuki Busujima & Family: $4.1B

Son of Sankyo founder Kunio Busujima, who passed away in October 2016, is Hideyuki Busujima.

Since 2008, Hideyuki has served as Sankyo's chairman and CEO. He left his position as CEO in April 2022, but he is still chairman.

In 2014, Kunio gave Hideyuki the shares of Sankyo that were listed on a stock exchange.

The value of the Sankyo shares owned by Hideyuki's two sisters is factored into the estimated net worth.

4. Yuji Otsuka & Family: $3.1B

The late Minoru Otsuka founded Otsuka Corp., a provider of office copier machines and software, in 1961; Yuji Otsuka is his son.

When Minoru retired in 2001, Yuji, a former banker, took over as CEO.

In September 2019, Minoru Otsuka passed away.

The estimated net worth includes the shares that other Otsuka family members own.

In 2022, Otsuka Corp.'s revenue was $6.6 billion.

5. Sekiya Family: $3B

In 1937, Mitsuo Sekiya established Disco in the prefecture of Hiroshima to produce vitrified grindstones.

Kazuma Sekiya, the company's current CEO and president, is Mitsuo's grandson.

Disco manufactures the machinery used to cut semiconductors into tiny rectangles and squares for use in items like cell phones.

In order to use its incredibly thin cutting wheels, Disco began producing its own cutting and grinding equipment in 1970.

Kobayashi brothers: $2.8B

Kose Corp. is a publicly traded Japanese cosmetics manufacturer and retailer that is run by the Kobayashi brothers, Kazutoshi (shown above), Takao, and Masanori.

Kose exports its goods to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China.

The three brothers received a small share of the business as inheritance. The CEO and president is Kazutoshi.

Kozaburo, their great-grandfather, founded the business in 1946.

In the world, the top 1% of ultra-rich people monopolize 37.8% of the wealth! ?

6. Akira Mori & Family: $2.8B

The chairman and owner of the real estate development company Mori Trust is Akira Mori.

More than 100 properties, including hotels and office buildings, are owned by Mori Trust in Tokyo and other parts of Japan.

Miwako Date, his daughter, is in charge of running Mori Trust.

Two office buildings in northern Virginia and one structure in Washington, D.C. were acquired by Mori Trust in 2022. It purchased a stake in a Boston lab and office project in April 2023.

Mori Trust achieved its $1.5 billion goal for foreign investments in 2022 earlier than anticipated in its ten-year strategic plan, which was published in 2016.

7. Masateru Uno & Family: $2.4B

Masateru Uno is the company's founder, chairman, and CEO. It operates more than 1,200 pharmacies in China and Japan.

Along with selling food and drink, the company also sells cosmetics and medicines.

Yukitaka, Masateru's son, is an executive at the business and is in charge of product development.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is where Cosmos Pharmaceutical trades.

Ito siblings: $4.7B

The wealth of Masatoshi Ito's children, the late honorary chairman of Seven & I Holding, comes from their ownership of the huge international retailer.

Masatoshi Ito, who assisted in making 7-Eleven a global powerhouse, passed away in March 2023 at the age of 98.

Seven & i Holdings operates close to 80,000 stores in 19 nations and generates close to $80 billion in revenue annually.

The business is best known for its numerous 7-Eleven convenience stores in China, Japan, and the United States.

The company also owns department stores, supermarkets, financial services companies, and Denny's restaurants in Japan.

8. Yoshio Tsuchiya & Family: $2.2B

The Beisia Group was founded in 1958 by Yoshio Tsuchiya. It is now a retailing behemoth with $7.8 billion in revenue.

Clothing and other equipment for factory and construction workers are sold by its Tokyo-listed apparel flagship, Workman Co., in which he and his family own shares.

For the fiscal year that ended in March 2023, Workman, which has 981 primarily franchised stores throughout Japan, reported sales of $966 million.

The Cainz home improvement stores, Beisia supermarkets, and Save On convenience stores are all part of the operations of the Beisia Group.

Cainz's chairman is his son Hiromasa. Tetsuo, his nephew, is the senior managing director of Workman.

9. Uchiyama Family: $1.8B

Yasushi Uchiyama, who founded Lasertec in 1960 after working for Panasonic, is the founder of the Uchiyama family. 1992 saw his passing.

Lasertec manufactures testing tools for the production of semiconductors, including those for the most recent chips produced by extreme ultraviolet lithography.

In 2004, Lasertec commenced trading on Tokyo's JASDAQ startup exchange. In 2013, Lasertec was promoted to the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The company projects a 55% increase in revenue for the current year from the nearly $685 million reported for the fiscal year that ended in June 2022.

Samsung Electronics, Intel, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. together account for more than three-quarters of Lasertec's revenue.

10. Kazumi Iida & Family: $1.46B

Kazuo Iida, Kazumi's late husband and the former group chairman, left a stake in the Tokyo-listed homebuilder Iida Group Holdings.

After Hajime Construction, Iida Home Max, Touei Housing, Tact Home, Arnest One, and ID Home merged, Iida Group was created.

Through March 2023, the company reported $10.8 billion in revenue.

11. Kinoshita Family: $1.45B

Acom's chairman, Shigeyoshi Kinoshita, is a provider of consumer loans.

President and CEO is Masataka Kinoshita, who is his son. In June 2021, he succeeded his father in those capacities.

Another brother, Katsuhiro, is a former managing director; Shigeyoshi's brother Kyosuke passed away in March 2016.

The family has a small stake in Acom, which joined the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group of Japan in 2009 and is now a subsidiary of that company.

Acom is still in business using its own name.

What are the wealthy and ultra-rich households in Japan?

As stated above, wealthy households are those with net financial assets of at least 100 million yen but less than 500 million yen, while ultra-rich households are those with net financial assets of at least 500 million yen. What percentage of Japanese citizens are wealthy and ultra-wealthy, then?

According to Nomura Research Institute's "Wealth Survey" based on 2019 data, there were 1.327 million households in the high-net-worth segment and the ultra-high-net-worth segment combined, making up roughly 2.5% of all households (54.023 million) in existence.

A total of 333 trillion yen, or about 21% of the total (1,554 trillion yen), is held in net financial assets by the high net worth and ultra high net worth classes combined, and 2.5% of households have wealth that is higher than that of 20% of all Japanese households. In addition, there are 87,000 households in the category of ultra-high net worth, and there are 97 trillion yen in net financial assets held by these households. This means that 0.16 percent of all households own roughly 6% of all wealth.