 "A woman looks at items inside a discount drug store at a shopping district in Tokyo. Photo: Reuters")
Japan's core consumer prices were unchanged in February from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday.
The core consumer price index, which includes oil products but excludes fresh food prices, was less than economists' median estimate for a 0.1% annual gain.
The so-called core-core inflation index, which excludes food and energy prices and is similar to the core index used in the United States, rose 0.8% in the year to February.
Core consumer prices in Tokyo, available a month before the nationwide data, fell 0.3% in March from a year earlier, versus a 0.2% annual fall seen by analysts in a Reuters poll.
