Tokyo’s core consumer prices rose 1.8% year on year in August to 102.3 on the 2025=100 base, accelerating for a third straight month from July’s 1.7% and beating market expectations of 1.7%, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications reported. Core inflation stayed below the Bank of Japan’s 2% target for a seventh consecutive month, while headline CPI rose 1.9% and the core-core gauge excluding fresh food and energy climbed 2.0%, reaching the 2% level for the first time in five months. Food prices excluding fresh food rose 3.6%, with sharp gains in items such as beef, bento boxes and coffee beans, services inflation accelerated to 1.4% as rents jumped to 1.9%, and energy prices fell 2.0%, partly offsetting the advance. Tokyo readings are treated as a leading nationwide indicator and a key input for the BOJ’s September 17–18 meeting after the bank raised its policy rate to 1% in June and held steady in July; some market sources see a possible hike as early as September if wages, services prices and energy costs keep supporting normalization. The yen firmed slightly after the data, trading near ¥159.35 per dollar.