Potential equity partners are circling Olympus, which is struggling to emerge from a $1.7 billion accounting scandal. Its flexible diagnostic endoscope business, which boasts a 70 percent market share, is seen as a jewel of profitability in Japan's lackluster electronics industry.

Fujifilm President Shigetaka Komori also told Reuters in an interview that Japan's government should take steps to counter the yen's strength, which has been hurting the country's exporters.

Fujifilm cut its operating profit forecast in October for the year to March 2012 by 15 percent to 136.5 billion yen ($1.78 billion), blaming the strong yen and global economic uncertainty.

($1 = 76.8100 Japanese yen)

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Joseph Radford)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency