Nintendo's former president makes a sizeable contribution to a new cancer treatment centre in Japan...

Despite no longer being president of Nintendo, Hiroshi Yamauchi still enjoys, well, being awfully rich. The man who was declared the third richest in Japan in 2008, which an estimated worth close to $8 billion, recently forked out a hefty share of his earnings on something a little more serious than flashy cars and massive estates.

On Tuesday of this week, a brand new cancer treatment centre opened in Kyoto, offering radiation oncology, internal medicine oncology, respiratory surgery, gastrointestinal surgery and urology departments. It has been confirmed that Yamauchi-san contributed almost all of the 7.5 billion yen ($83m) to erect the 8-storey building. Treatment will commence at the centre by the end of the month.

The 82-year-old Hiroshi Yamauchi became president of Nintendo in 1949, turning it into the video-game behemoth we know it as today, before handing the reins over to Satoru Iwata in 2002. He still enjoys affluence from his hefty share in the company, and upon leaving the board in 2005, donated his retirement pension to Nintendo's own coffers.