The average of household spending in Japan was down 1.2 percent on year in March, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday - coming in at 318,713 yen.
That beat forecasts for a decline of 2.3 percent following the 0.5 percent drop in February.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, household spending rose 1.2 percent - again topping expectations for a loss 0.3 percent following the 1.4 percent increase in the previous month.
The average of monthly income per household stood at 513,734 yen, down 0.1 percent on year.