NHK


 

Japanese consumers are feeling the pinch as prices continue to rise. The internal affairs ministry said on Friday that the consumer price index, excluding fresh food, climbed 3 percent in September from a year earlier.

Japan has not seen that level of increase since August 1991, except for when the consumption tax was increased.

The government and the Bank of Japan have set an inflation target of 2 percent to pull the country out of deflation. September was the sixth straight month that the figure exceeded that mark.