The Bureau already prints two different annual rates
Start by dropping the story that 1.7 per cent is the demand print. The Japan Statistics Bureau August 2026 national CPI, 2025=100, put all items at 102.2, up 1.9 per cent year on year — July 1.9 per cent to August 1.9 per cent — and the seasonally adjusted all-items index unchanged on the month.[1]
Excluding fresh food the index was 102.0, and that annual rate narrowed from 1.8 per cent in July to 1.7 per cent in August. Energy's year-on-year rate flipped to a 0.7 per cent fall from a 0.6 per cent rise; its contribution difference was -0.09 percentage points, with electricity at a 2.4 per cent year-on-year fall.[1]
Energy still adds 1.29 points in the euro area
Follow both books. In Japan energy subtracted 0.09 percentage points from the change in the all-items annual rate as electricity fell further. Eurostat's August Euro-area HICP, published 17 September, was 3.2 per cent after 2.9 per cent in July, 0.4 per cent on the month, and energy still contributed +1.29 percentage points to that annual rate while services contributed +1.43 percentage points.[1], [2]
The 1.9 per cent stock is the demand-relevant index
Excluding fresh food and energy the index was 102.5, still +1.9 per cent year on year, and the seasonally adjusted monthly rise was 0.3 per cent. Wages and mark-ups sit in that 1.9 per cent excluding-fresh-food-and-energy stock. The orthodox reading treats 1.7 per cent as disinflation on track. An alternative treats medical fees and mobile-phone prices, listed as widening the all-items annual rate, as one-off mix.[1]
Fuel still carries the headline, as on 16 September, while the underlying stayed put. Japan's energy block moved the 1.7 per cent line the same way. If September national CPI is published on the same 2025=100 definitions, the observable is whether excluding-fresh-food-and-energy year-on-year stays at 1.9 per cent or higher.[1], [3]