The core consumer prices in Japan gained 0.7 per cent in May from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday.
According to the data from the ministry of internal affairs and communications, the core consumer prices rose as a result of higher energy costs, reports Xinhua.
Prices rose for the 17th straight month in May, the statistics bureau said, but still remain well below the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) lofty 2.0 per cent inflation target.
This is owing to consumer and household spending remaining penny-wise amid stagnant wage increases and what BOJ chief Haruhiko Kuroda has described as an ongoing "deflationary mindset" in Japan.
The pace of increase in the consumer price index excluding volatile fresh food prices was in line with median market expectations to remain unchanged from April's reading.
The "core-core" CPI, which excludes both fresh food and energy prices, meanwhile, rose 0.3 per cent from a year prior, the ministry also said.