The average forecast for inflation over the coming year was plus 12.2% in a Bank of Japan survey last month, up from plus 11.5% in the previous survey about three months earlier.
The latest nationwide survey of people age 20 and older was conducted from Feb. 6 to March 4.
Of those surveyed, 86.7% said that prices are likely to be higher in a year's time, up from 85.7%.
Meanwhile, 96.1% said that prices now are higher than a year earlier, up from 95.1%, and they estimated inflation over the past year at plus 19.1%, up from plus 17%.
The diffusion index for people's livelihoods, or the percentage of respondents with improving livelihoods minus that of those with worsening livelihoods, stood at minus 52, compared with minus 52.4 in the previous survey.
The BOJ believes that the impact of soaring food prices was mitigated by rising wages.
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