Two Japanese Top Forbes’ New List of World’s Richest

Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, the head of Japan’s Seibu Railway Group, is the world’s richest person for the second straight year, Forbes magazine said Thursday.

Tsutsumi, 54, has a personal net worth of at least $18.9 billion, Forbes estimated in a report on the richest people outside the United States.

Forbes estimated his fortune at about $20 billion last fall in its first survey.

The designation again puts Forbes at odds with Fortune magazine. In its compilation of the world’s billionaires last October, Fortune estimated that Tsutsumi’s holdings in railroads, hotels and golf clubs were worth a far smaller--but still substantial--$2.5 billion.

The second-richest person on Forbes’ list is also Japanese. Taikichiro Mori, a former economics professor who owns 68 office buildings in Tokyo, is worth $18 billion, the magazine said. In the previous survey, Mori’s fortune was put at $15 billion.

Following the two Japanese are the Reichmann brothers of Canada, who have built a $9-billion fortune in real estate, Forbes said.

Shin Kyuk-ho, a South Korean with interests in candy making, hotels and real estate, is ranked No. 4 (with more than $8 billion), and Kenneth Cole Irving, a Canadian with interests in oil distribution, paper and land, is No. 5 ($8 billion).