Subprime has limited effect on Japan: Shinohara

LONDON (Reuters) - Japan's financial system is unlikely to be seriously affected by the fallout from the U.S. subprime mortgage market crisis, Japan's top financial diplomat said on Thursday.

"The subprime mortgage problem is not likely to have serious impacts on the Japanese financial system," Naoyuki Shinohara, vice finance minister for international affairs, told the Euromoney Japan Debt Capital Markets Forum in London.

He said the early implementation of the Basel 2 financial market regulation was in part the reason for this.

Shinohara also said Japan's core consumer price inflation was likely to keep a positive trend.

(Reporting by Natsuko Waki and Toni Vorobyova)