Consumer prices in Japan were up 2.5 percent on year in April, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday.
That exceeded expectations for an increase of 2.4 percent and was up sharply from 1.2 percent in March.
Core CPI, which excludes volatile food prices, was up 2.1 percent on year - in line with expectations and up from 0.8 percent in the previous month.
On a monthly basis, overall inflation rose 0.4 percent - unchanged from the March reading.
