Japan's government is watching crude oil prices carefully, as a continued climb in petroleum could hurt corporate profits and consumption in the world's second-biggest economy, the country's top financial bureaucrat said Monday. "If oil prices continue their fast-pitched rises, that may affect corporate profits and private consumption (in Japan) and also the global economy," Vice Finance Minister Koichi Hosokawa told a regular press conference. "We must keep a close eye on movements in crude oil prices and their impact (on the Japanese and world economies)."