Page 52 - Forbes - Asia (April 2019)

Japan’s 50 Richest

THE LIST WEALTH CREATION

27. Abe’s Aim is True
SATOSHI SUZUKI
$1.72 BILLION T Japan is doing better than what’s portrayed in conventional analyses.
POLA ORBIS HOLDINGS
AGE: 65
BY YUWA HEDRICK-WONG

28.
HIROKO TAKEI
$1.7 BILLION T
TAKEFUJI
AGE: 65

29.
TADA BROTHERS
$1.65 BILLION T
SUNDRUG

30.
KENTARO OGAWA
$1.5 BILLION S
ZENSHO HOLDINGS
AGE: 70

31.
KAZUMI IIDA
$1.4 BILLION S NEARLY THREE DECADES after its own asset women’s participation in the labor force and
IIDA GROUP HOLDINGS bubble burst in 1991, Japan is still character- encouraging more domestic investment by
AGE: 79
ized as economically stagnant, weighed down business—all to revive the domestic engine
by mounting debts and increasingly long-lived of economic growth.
32. retirees. The latest data have deepened the The structural reforms targeted in this
YASUHIRO
FUKUSHIMA gloom, with the IMF estimating that Japan’s third arrow are a vital ingredient for success.
$1.35 BILLION T GDP growth slowed to 0.9% last year from Stronger private domestic consumption is
SQUARE ENIX 1.9% in 2017. The benchmark Topix stock needed to tilt Japan away from its dependency
AGE: 71 index slid almost 8% last year. It is easy—natu- on external demand. In the decade since the
ral in fact—to be pessimistic about Japan. global financial crisis, Japan’s gross national

33. The reality is more nuanced. The Japanese product (which includes Japanese output
SHINTARO YAMADA economy today is arguably healthier than it from both inside and outside the country) is
$1.3 BILLION Ì has been in over a decade, with annual GDP about 3% bigger than its GDP (which counts
MERCARI growth averaging 1.3% since 2012, again only output produced domestically) year after
AGE: 41
according to the IMF, double the 0.63% year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank
average in the previous decade. Prime Min- of St. Louis. This trend is because Japanese
34. ister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to rejuvenate the businesses have been expanding production
YOICHI & KEIKO Japanese economy, dubbed Abenomics, are overseas to take advantage of cheaper labor
ERIKAWA
$1.25 BILLION S beginning to bear fruit even if progress has and to get closer to their foreign customers,
KOEI TECMO HOLDINGS been hesitant and uneven. especially those in China and Southeast Asia.
AGES: 68,70 Abenomics consists of three “arrows:” Simply put, Japanese businesses are investing
monetary policy, fiscal policy and structural where the opportunities are—and those op-
35. reform. Of the three, it is the third arrow that portunities are outside Japan.
KAGEMASA KOZUKI is arguably the most important, especially for Japan’s population is both aging and
$1.21 BILLION T Japan’s long-term growth trajectory. It aims shrinking, which means the domestic
KONAMI HOLDINGS to bring about stronger wage growth to boost consumer market will become even smaller. GETTY IMAGES
AGE: 78
household consumption, while increasing Compounding the situation is that wages

48 | FORBES ASIA APRIL 2019