Japan’s answer

経済誌「フォーブス」が2012年の「日本の富豪40人」を発表しました（えっ！もう？）。うち第４位となった楽天の三木谷社長の説明に標記の表現がありました。Japan’s answer to〜とは「日本版アマゾン」ということで、ここのanswerは「対応する、当たる」の意味。別の英語で置き換えるとequivalentあたりでしょうか。（UG）

An outsize factor is younger tycoons who are fast reaching out beyond Japan (while making a mark at home in philanthropy). Among the most dynamic in the past two years was Hiroshi Mikitani (No. 4), 47, founder of Rakuten, Japan’s answer to Amazon.com, whose fortune is up 34%. Mikitani has switched his company’s official language to English, empowered young managers and bought up e-commerce companies Buy.com of the U.S., Play.com in England, Germany’s online mall Tradoria and Canada’s Kobe e-readers. Beyond business, his companies were major donors to earthquake relief. On the political front, he resigned from Keidanren, Japan’s top corporate association, to protest its support for nuclear power.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tatianaserafin/2012/03/28/japans-40-richest/