Japan's 40 wealthiest businesspeople are worth $89.9 billion, up $10.7 billion from last year. An impressive gain but one that masks an uneven year for the country's tycoons. Twenty people are richer than last year, including eight of the top 10, helped by the yen's double-digit gain against the U.S. dollar. Six added more than $1 billion apiece to their fortunes.
The biggest gainer was the country's new No. 1, the retired and now largely low-profile Nintendo chairman, Hiroshi Yamauchi, whose net worth soared $3 billion in the past year and has tripled since 2006, thanks mostly to booming sales of the Wii gaming device. Close behind him is last year's richest member on the list, property developer Akira Mori, who gained $2.2 billion but not enough to stay on top.
Three former billionaires return to the ranks. They are construction tycoon Katsumi Tada, who apparently received a bid from U.S. Aetos Capital and Akira Mori's company earlier this year for his Daito Trust Construction; Akira's brother Minoru, who is building Shanghai's biggest tower; and Kagemasa Kozuki, whose Konami gaming company makes videogames for Sony's (nyse: SNE - news - people ) PlayStation and Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) Xbox.

Three newcomers debut, including the list's youngest member, Mixi's 32-year-old founder, Kenji Sahara. He is the first under-40 member of Japan's rich list since 2005, when former Internet entrepreneur Takafumi Horie last appeared on the list (he was later sentenced to jail for violating securities law).
Other newcomers are Yokyu Kanazawa and his brothers, who together own Sanyo Bussan, a $2 billion (sales) maker of pachinko machines; and steel-parts magnate Hiroyuki Inoue, who grabbed the last spot with a net worth of $715 million, $105 million more than last year's minimum. Inoue's company Yamato Kogyo, founded by his father, is a member of Forbes Asia's 2007 list of 200 Best Under a Billion companies.
On the gloomier side, six people from the 2007 list failed to make the cut, and 14 are poorer, mostly because of falling stocks (the Nikkei index is down 20% since then) and plunging profits at a number of rich-list-owned companies. Two dropouts were Toichi Takenaka, whose Takenaka construction company's consolidated profits fell by two-thirds for fiscal 2007 because of fewer orders and higher costs, and Kenshin Oshima, head of consumer loan outfit SFCG, whose market value was halved. Sega Sammy's Hajime Satomi just barely makes the list, as his company's stock also tanked.
Another factor that could hold the group back is the graying of Japan's richest citizens along with the country's population. By 2030, one-third of all Japanese will be over 65. The average age of the country's 40 wealthiest is 66. That makes the group quite a bit older than the youthful tycoons of China, India and even South Korea. Indeed nine octogenarians rank among the top 40, three more than two years ago.
Only three females qualify for this year's top 40: Hiroko Takei, who inherited her fortune from her late husband; Chizuko Matsui, whose husband turned her grandfather's brokerage firm into a leading online securities firm; and Keiko Erikawa, chairman emeritus of videogame developer Koei. Erikawa, the list's only self-made female, shares a $720 million fortune with her husband, who co-founded the company with her.
Unlike the Billionaires List, which tries to home in on individuals, Japan's top 40 includes such families as the Kinoshita brothers and Kanazawa and his brothers. For people with publicly traded fortunes, net worths were calculated using April 25 stock prices and exchange rates. For people with privately held fortunes, we estimated what companies would be worth if public.

----------------
Hiroshi Yamauchi
Net Worth $7.8 billion  
Age 80
Marital Status Married, 1 child
Retired as Nintendo's chairman after 55 years in 2005 just before company took off with its popular Wii videogame console, which is outselling rival offerings Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox. Also scored with its handheld gaming devices. Net income jumped 48% to $2.5 billion. Rarely photographed, Yamauchi is still a big shareholder.
----------------
Akira Mori
Net Worth $7.7 billion  
Age 71
Marital Status Married, 3 children
His Mori Trust is one of Tokyo's biggest landlords; has properties elsewhere in Japan, including hotels, apartments, office buildings, mountain lodges. Building a tower next to Tokyo Station that will house a Shangri-La Hotel.
----------------
Kunio Busujima
Net Worth $5.4 billion  
Age 83
Marital Status Married, 4 children
His pachinko gambling-machine maker, Sankyo, is rebounding from tighter industry regulations, helped by new lineup of machines featuring cartoon characters. Expects double-digit gains in revenues, profits this year.
----------------
Nobutada Saji
Net Worth $5.3 billion  
Age 62
Marital Status Married
Runs drinks group Suntory. Its booze business under pressure because of Japan's shrinking population, tough competition. Rising grain, energy prices forced it to raise beer prices for first time in 18 years. But Suntory is doing well, thanks to stronger soft-drink sales. With Nestle marketing iced green tea drinks in U.S.
----------------
Masayoshi Son
Net Worth $5.1 billion  
Age 50
Marital Status Married, 2 children
Founder and chief executive of SoftBank, Japan's leading Internet, telecom services company. Bought Vodafone's Japan operations in 2006; now offering big discounts to boost its market share; still in third place. In April announced tie-up with Vodafone and China Mobile. Also runs Yahoo Japan; partnering with News Corp. on Japanese version of MySpace.
----------------
Tadashi Yanai
Net Worth $4.7 billion  
Age 59
Marital Status Married, 2 children
Creator of discount clothing brand Uniqlo. After record year his company Fast Retailing is predicting 12% jump in sales this year to $5.7 billion and 29% gain in profits. Expanding overseas: opened stores in Paris suburb and London last year.
----------------
Eitaro Itoyama
Net Worth $4.5 billion  
Age 65
Marital Status Married, 2 children
Golf-course magnate is known for his shareholder activism. Forced resignation of Japan Airlines' president 2 years ago, then cut his stake in the carrier. Now owns part of broadcaster TV Tokyo; criticized its management in April blog and now demands their resignations. Collects expensive wines.
----------------
Hiroshi Mikitani
Net Worth $3.8 billion  
Age 43
Marital Status Married, 1 child
Founded and runs online shopping mall Rakuten, Japan's fifth-most-popular Web site. Moved its headquarters from chic Roppongi neighborhood into cheaper digs in seedy bayside. With extra money treats his employees to free meals. Launching e-commerce business in Taiwan.
----------------
Takemitsu Takizaki
Net Worth $3.2 billion  
Age 62
Marital Status Married
Runs sensormaker Keyence Corp., whose top sellers include measurement and control devices, mainly used in factories automating their production. His engineers are industry's best paid.
----------------
Hiroko Takei
Net Worth $3.1 billion  
Age 66
Marital Status Widow, 3 children
Consumer finance company Takefuji, founded by her late husband, Yasuo Takei, has been floundering lately. Good thing family sold bunch of shares over the years. Court ordered son Toshiki to pay back taxes on stock donations from his parents. Son Taketeru is Takefuji's senior managing director.
----------------
Masatoshi Ito
Net Worth $2.7 billion  
Age 84
Marital Status Married, 3 children
Honorary chairman of Seven & I Holdings, retailer he ran for decades. Group, which includes 12,004 7-Eleven stores and 572 Denny's restaurants in Japan, has been hurt by rising food prices. Operating profits fell in 2007 for first time in 6 years; to trim costs, closing scores of stores, restaurants. In February listed its banking unit, Seven Bank, which operates cash machines at its stores.
----------------
Kazuo Okada
Net Worth $2.2 billion  
Age 65
Marital Status Married, 2 children
After 4 years of decreasing sales, Aruze, the pachinko and slot-machine maker he founded, is predicting sales and earnings gains for the year that ended March 2008. Behind rebound are new slot machine models and an investment in U.S. gaming billionaire Steve Wynn's Macau business. Okada is also investing up to $2.5 billion to develop a casino and hotel on a man-made island in Manila Bay in the Philippines.
----------------
Kanbei Kokubu
Net Worth $2.1 billion  
Age 69
Marital Status Married, 2 children
Heads $13 billion (sales) Kokubu, Japan's largest food distributor and wholesaler. Family started making soy sauce in 1712; now sells over 300 items from bread crumbs to canned fruits under K&K private label; almost half of sales from liquor. In 2007 tied up with drugmaker Toho Pharmaceutical.
----------------
Masahiro Miki
Net Worth $2 billion  
Age 52
Marital Status Married
Founded ABC-Mart 2 decades ago. Turned it into one of Japan's leading footwear retailers, with 375 stores. Former amateur boxer stepped down as chairman in August 2007. Cut his stake in broadcaster TBS from 9.9% to 3.4% last year.
----------------
Fukuzo Iwasaki
Net Worth $1.8 billion  
Age 83
Marital Status Married, 3 children
Restructuring Iwasaki Sangyo, his transportation and hotel company. Selling 5 hotels on island of Kyushu. In Australia building new apartments and villas at a resort in Queensland and expanding beef production at adjoining ranch.
----------------
Yoshitaka Fukuda
Net Worth $1.75 billion  
Age 60
Marital Status Married, 3 children
His consumer finance company, Aiful, has been tested lately by a government crackdown on lending that halved maximum interest rates to 20%. A 2007 court ruling forced Aiful and rivals to repay customers they had overcharged. To bolster group's finances, bought $485 million of new Aiful shares. Company also raised $680 million from a convertible bond offering.
----------------
Katsumi Tada
----------------
Ryoichi Jinnai
Net Worth $1.7 billion  
Age 81
Marital Status Married, 1 child
Gave up control of Promise, consumer lender he founded, 7 years ago. Grows mangoes, bananas in greenhouses in chilly northern island of Hokkaido. His son now runs Promise, which is coping with lower interest rate caps by eliminating jobs, acquiring smaller rival Sanyo Shinpan, bolstering ties with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.
----------------
Kinoshita Brothers
Net Worth $1.65 billion  
Age NA
Marital Status NA
Late father left 3 brothers stakes in now struggling consumer loan outfit, Acom. Eldest Kyosuke is chairman, Shigeyoshi (above) chief executive.
----------------
Shigenobu Nagamori
Net Worth $1.62 billion  
Age 54
Marital Status Married
Controls Nidec, maker of micromotors used in DVDs, game consoles, hard drives, camera shutters. Just posted record net income of $400 million helped by booming demand for PCs in China and India and adoption of such devices as iPods.
----------------
Han Chang-Woo
Net Worth $1.6 billion  
Age 77
Marital Status Married, 6 children
Korean immigrant runs $17 billion (sales) Maruhan, Japan's biggest operator of pachinko parlors. In October 2007 spent $100 million to buy stakes in Macau Success and its subsidiary World of Fortune, gaming companies that also operate cruise ships, travel business in Macau. Also runs cinemas, golf practice ranges, bowling alleys.
----------------
Yokyu Kanazawa & brothers
Net Worth $1.5 billion  
Age NA
Marital Status Married
With 2 brothers, owns privately held maker of pachinko machines $2 billion (sales) Sanyo Bussan, known for bikini-clad animated figure featured on its machines. Brothers have appeared on country's list of biggest taxpayers.
----------------
Soichiro Fukutake
Net Worth $1.4 billion  
Age 62
Marital Status Married
Owns $3.7 billion (sales) Benesse, Japan's largest correspondence teaching group. Runs Berlitz language schools. May get boost from recent collapse of Nova, once nation's largest English-conversation school. Provides elderly, child care services, student loans; runs call centers, publishes child care books for new moms. Branched into children's furniture in 2007.
----------------
Yasumitsu Shigeta
Net Worth $1.2 billion  
Age 43
Marital Status Married, 3 children
Worth $42 billion during dot-com bubble, still runs Hikari Tsushin, now mainly an office equipment supplier and call center operator.
----------------
Yasuhiro Fukushima
Net Worth $1.16 billion  
Age 60
Marital Status Married
Founder of gaming software firm Enix, which merged with rival Square in 2003. Chairman of combined group, known for its Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series
----------------
Tetsuro Funai
Net Worth $1.15 billion  
Age 81
Marital Status Married
His Funai Electric, maker of low-cost DVD players, televisions, is struggling against price-cutting rivals from China and Taiwan. In August 2007 gave up making plasma TVs. In early 2008 forged alliance with Victor Co. of Japan (JVC). In April bought the rights to the Philips brand in North America.
----------------
Minoru Mori
Net Worth $1.1 billion  
Age 73
Marital Status Married, 1 child
With brother Akira (No. 2) inherited small real estate fortune from late father; then went separate ways in 1999. Minoru is known for splashy developments like swank Roppongi Hills, built on split levels to create feeling of hills in flat Tokyo. Building China's tallest tower, the 1,614-foot Shanghai World Financial Center, in which Morgan Stanley is an investor. Slated to open this month.
----------------
Minoru & Yuji Otsuka
Net Worth $1.04 billion  
Age 85/54
Marital Status NA
Minoru founded Otsuka in 1961 to sell copy machines. Since 2003 son Yuji has run the now $4.2 billion (sales) computer systems integrator and software provider.
----------------
Tadahiro Yoshida
Net Worth $1 billion  
Age 61
Marital Status Married
Runs YKK, maker of half the world's zippers. European Commission fined the private firm $240 million last year after finding its German subsidiary guilty of fixing button, zipper prices and divvying up customers with its rivals. Its construction unit was reprimanded along with others for selling substandard fire-resistant material. Estimates a loss for the year that ended Mar. 31. Hopes to rebound, despite high steel prices.

درێژه‌ی باسه‌که‌