Economy Japan’s core inflation picked up in October

Official figures released on Friday showed that Japan's core consumer prices rose 3.0% in October from a year earlier, keeping inflation above the Bank of Japan's 2% target and fueling talk that a rate increase may not be far off. The core index, which leaves out fresh food but still counts fuel, came in exactly as markets had expected and inched up from September's 2.9%. A narrower measure that excludes both fresh food and fuel – the gauge the central bank relies on to read underlying price movements – also edged higher. It rose 3.1% in October, slightly above the 3.0% pace recorded the previous month.

Consumers were also paying more for food. Prices, excluding perishables, rose 7.2 percent from the same month last year. Coffee beans shot up 53.4 percent and chocolate 36.9 percent. Rice balls rose 16.4 percent, eggs 13.6 percent and chicken 9 percent. Rice continues to stress household budgets, with the price rising 40.2 percent year-on-year and up 5.3 percent from the previous month. That was despite newly harvested rice coming onto the market.

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Fuel, at least pump prices, is down. OTOH, as the link says, food is most definitely up.

Along with this, there've been recent news articles about the hit to GDP from US tariffs (first negative quarter in six), along with the as-yet only possible/probable economic impact of Takaichi's "misstep" with China.

It's probably too early to call it out as such, but inflation + no growth = stagflation.