Year-on-year, cost of food rose at a slower 2.4 percent, compared to a 2.9 percent growth in November. While prices of fuel, light and water charges dropped 6.6 percent, cost of transportation and communication fell 2.8 percent and housing prices declined slightly by 0.1 percent.
Additional upward pressure came from: furniture and household utensils (+2.3 percent); culture and recreation (+2.2 percent); clothes and footwear (+1.8 percent); education (+1.5 percent); medical care (+0.8 percent) and miscellaneous goods and services (+0.7 percent).
Excluding fresh food items, consumer prices rose 0.1 percent while excluding food and energy prices rose by 0.8 percent.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices declined slightly by 0.1 percent.
In Tokyo, consumer prices dropped 0.3 percent year-on-year in January. Core consumer prices which exclude fresh food fell 0.1 percent.