3 Min Read TOKYO (Reuters) - Recent carve-out deals by tech giants such as Hitachi Ltd are just the beginning of potential divestitures of non-core assets by Japanese firms, U.S. buyout firm Carlyle Group’s Japan chief said. Slideshow ( 2 images ) The comments come as Carlyle recently successfully exited one of its own investments and sees plenty of opportunities for private equity firms in the horizon in Japan. “These are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Kazuhiro Yamada in an interview with Reuters, referring to a flurry of recent non-core asset sales by Hitachi, Panasonic Corp, and Toshiba Corp . “There are still a substantial number of firms with hundreds of subsidiaries in Japan, and these firms are considering various options.”