Japan's inflation picks up to 2.1 percent in September, with the core-core measure at 2.4 percent

Japan's annual inflation rate rose to 2.1 percent in September from 1.9 percent in August, the Statistics Bureau reported Friday. Seasonally adjusted, the index rose 0.4 percent during the month.

The underlying measures moved further. Prices excluding fresh food rose 2.1 percent, up from 1.7 percent, while prices excluding both fresh food and energy rose 2.4 percent, up from 1.9 percent. Fresh food pulled the other way and trimmed 0.15 percentage point from the headline increase.

Some prices swung widely. Rice other than Koshihikari was 21.1 percent cheaper than a year earlier and private high school tuition fell 73.2 percent, while food excluding fresh food rose 2.9 percent and household durables 6.2 percent. Energy was still 0.6 percent cheaper than a year earlier, and the bureau estimates that abolishing the provisional gasoline tax rate, together with other policy measures, took 0.82 percentage point off the annual rate.