Japanese household spending rose for the first time in five months in year-on-year terms in December and at a much faster-than-expected pace, but the government said it was too early to call a bottoming out in consumption's downtrend.

Japan's household spending in December rose 2.7% year on year in real terms, according to a Friday report from the Statistics Bureau of Japan, massively beating expectations from economists polled by Reuters and marking its first rise since July 2024.