In January 2026, Tokyo's core consumer inflation decelerated once again, offering fresh data for the Bank of Japan to consider as it weighs the timing of its next interest rate hike. The yen's persistent weakness poses a risk to the central bank's efforts to cultivate a virtuous, demand-driven cycle of price increases, thereby elevating the significance of inflation-related signals. As a leading indicator for nationwide price trends, the latest inflation data from Tokyo shows that price pressures eased in January. Government data released on Friday showed that Tokyo's core consumer price index, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, rose 2.0% in January compared to the same month a year earlier. This compares to a 2.3% increase recorded in December 2025, while a survey of economists by data service Quick had forecast the January figure to be 2.2%. The Bank of Japan raised its policy rate to a three-decade high last December and opted to hold it steady at 0.75% just last week. Although BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda maintains that the central bank's policy maneuvers are not lagging behind the curve, the yen's significant depreciation could potentially alter the domestic inflation trajectory. A continuously weak yen drives up the cost of imported goods, further burdening Japanese households already grappling with rising living expenses. Governor Ueda has previously stated that foreign exchange fluctuations warrant close monitoring; he also added that as companies are now increasingly willing to pass on higher costs to consumers, the impact of exchange rate movements on corporate pricing behavior is more pronounced than in the past.