Overall nationwide consumer prices in Japan were up just 0.6 percent on year in April, say rttnews.
That was shy of expectations for a gain of 0.7 percent and was down sharply from 1.1 percent in March.
Core CPI was up 0.7 percent on year, beneath forecasts for 0.8 percent and down from 0.9 percent in the previous month.
On a monthly basis, overall CPI was down 0.4 percent and core CPI eased 0.1 percent.