Overall consumer prices in Japan climbed 1.2 percent on year in March, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday.
That exceeded expectations for an increase of 1.0 percent and was up from the 0.9 percent gain in February.
On a monthly basis, overall inflation was up 0.4 percent - unchanged from the previous month and in line with expectations.
Core CPI was up 0.8 percent on year - also matching expectations and accelerating from 0.6 percent a month earlier. On a monthly basis, core CPI was steady at 0.2 percent on month.
