SINGAPORE - Tadashi Yanai, founder and chief of Japanese clothing retail chain Uniqlo, has regained his title as the richest person in Japan even as a global economic slowdown has eroded his wealth sharply, according to international business magazine Forbes Asia's latest list of the 50 richest people in Japan.

The founder and president of Fast Retailing Co., the operator of the casual clothing chain, saw his wealth fall by 44 percent to $23.6 billion, hit by a slowdown in sales in the domestic market and China, Forbes said.

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The sharp drop in the value of his assets is part of a broader trend that has seen the combined wealth of Japan's 50 richest shrink by nearly a third to $170 billion, as soaring energy and commodity prices and supply chain disruptions have taken a toll, it said.

Takemitsu Takizaki, the founder of precision device maker Keyence Corp., came in second, his highest position ever, at $21.6 billion, even as his wealth has dropped by $4.2 billion from a year ago.

SoftBank Group Corp. founder and CEO Masayoshi Son was unseated from his rank as Japan's richest last year to third as his net worth has more than halved to $21.1 billion.

Son "took the biggest hit in both dollar and percentage terms" as his investment firm's two Vision Funds reported a record $27 billion loss for the year ended March 2022, it said.

Six newcomers made their debut on Forbes' list, including the Sekiya family, whose company Disco Corp. makes semiconductor processing equipment and scientist-turned-entrepreneur Keiichi Shibahara, who founded Amvis Holdings Inc. to provide hospice care.

The complete list of Japan's 50 richest on the 2022 list can also be found at www.forbes.com/japan.

==Kyodo

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