Note that this is inflation as measured in the Tokyo area. This is regarded as a leading indicator of nationwide inflation but its not a perfect 1 for 1 indication. We await June inflation for Japan as a while that’ll be published in around 3 weeks.
While still elevated above 3% all three of the CPI measures fell short of expected. Good news for Japanese households and also points to the Bank of Japan probably being on the right track in arguing, over and over and over again that it expected inflation to decline, that it was transitory. We’ll get the national level da=ta for June ahead of late July Bank of Japan meeting, which is shaping up as a really interesting one.