Forbes has just released the latest list of Japan's forty wealthiest and that guy's grin up there best shows who got the high-end portion of the stick. After finishing in third place last year, Nintendo's ex-chairman Hiroshi Yamauchi is now the richest man in Japan.

With a net worth of US$ 7.8 billion, the 80-year old Yamauchi's net income jumped 48% to US$ 2.5 billion. We do know the reason why: the Nintendo DS and the Wii. If you can remember, Nintendo had a (hardcore) 115.6% profit rate for the past fiscal year,

Yamauchi was responsible for turning around Nintendo from a card-making company into the video game power it is now today. In the seventies, Yamauchi's move as a president was to venture into home and arcade games. He was also an advocate of pursuing a wider audience.

Yamauchi retired in 2005 after serving Nintendo for 55 years. He cancelled his US$ 11 million retirement allowance to give it to Nintendo instead. We don't know if it's good karma, but immediately after, the Nintendo Wii phenomenon swept the world.