TOKYO -- Japan may be suffering from record levels of unemployment and bankruptcy, but many of the nation's super rich have never had it so good.
According to a recent edition of Forbes magazine, the average fortune of the 10 wealthiest men in Japan is 507 billion yen ($4 billion), a 20 percent leap on last year. At a time of economic contraction, this is an impressive increase. Considering Japan's egalitarian reputation, it is somewhat mind-boggling.The momentum for the rise has come mainly from the rapidly expanding consumer finance and small-loan industries, which account for three of the top 10 slots: Yasuo Takei of Takefuji Corp. (third with 728 billion yen), Kyosuke Kinoshita of Acom Co. (fifth with 504 billion yen) and Kuzo Matsuda of Nichiei Co. (eighth with 350 billion yen).
Consumer finance companies have racked up double-digit profit growth this year, making their owners the darlings of the stock exchange and the envy of commercial bankers.
That these tycoons are now the leading lights of the financial community represents a remarkable change in perceptions. Not so long ago Takei was dubbed a "loan shark" and was said to have links with the Japanese mafia. Now, however, the combative head of Takefuji, who has seen his personal wealth increase by 12 percent in the past year, is regarded as a respectable financial figure.
The richest man in Japan continues to be Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, who inherited a real-estate and railway company from his father. Once the world's wealthiest man, his Kokudo holding company has been hit in recent years by falling stock prices and slack consumption. But with a fortune of 798 billion yen, he is still ahead of his nearest domestic rival, Keizo Saji, the head of Suntory, the drinks group.
Politicians also appear to be prospering despite the economic downturn. This, presumably, is because their income is at least stable and guaranteed. The average declared income of legislators is 31.2 million yen ($254,000), having risen for two consecutive years, most recently by 9 percent. At the top of the list is Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Takashi Sasagawa, a former vice posts and telecommunications minister, who earned 1.97 billion yen in 1997 after selling stocks in his family's company.
In a reflection, perhaps, of Japanese attitudes to wealth, the most closely watched measure of income is produced by the National Tax Administration Agency, which details only contributions to public coffers, not earnings.
By this gauge, the effects of the economic slowdown are particularly apparent. The number of people who paid more than 500 million yen in income tax, for example, declined to 21 last year, one seventh of the figure during the height of the bubble economy in 1990.
Even so, there are several groups of apparently recession-proof high earners, including baseball stars such as Orix BlueWave batter Ichiro Suzuki who paid 242 million in income tax. In the entertainment world pop guru Tetsuya Komuro was top of the rankings for the second consecutive year, having paid more than 1.1 billion yen in income tax.
Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.