People wearing face masks walk through the train station in Tokyo on Sept. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's household spending rose a real 0.7 percent in July from a year earlier, up for the first time in two months following a steep drop a year ago, but the pace of increase was slow amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections, government data showed Tuesday.

       Average spending by households with two or more people was 267,710 yen ($2,400), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said, rebounding from a 7.6 percent plunge a year earlier.

       "The increase was quite small, so it would be better to regard it as almost flat compared to the previous year," a ministry official told reporters, citing a resurgence of infections and the government's fourth virus state of emergency for Tokyo as possible reasons for the limited growth.

       The increase followed a revised decline of 4.3 percent in June. The figure was revised from a 5.1 percent fall following a change in the calculation method for the consumer price index released by the ministry.

       Amid a surge in new virus cases driven by the highly contagious Delta virus variant, the ongoing state of emergency was declared in mid-July for Tokyo, while the southern island prefecture of Okinawa has been under a state of emergency since late May.

       Consumer spending is reduced under the emergency regulations as people are requested to stay home and restaurants and bars are refrained from serving alcohol and must close by 8 p.m.

       On a month-to-month basis, seasonally adjusted spending in July fell 0.9 percent for the third consecutive month of decline, with the official saying that household spending "has yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels partly due to a virus resurgence."

       By category, the largest contributor to the spending increase was the 14.2 percent expansion of transportation and telecommunication expenses, boosted by car and mobile phone purchases, with recent industry data showing people bought more expensive cars, the official said.

       Food expenditures were up 1.9 percent, with demand for ready-made meals growing remarkably as many people are believed to have watched the Tokyo Olympics, held from July 23 through Aug. 8, on television, according to the official.

       Meanwhile, spending on furniture and home appliances declined 8.4 percent, after purchases of such goods as refrigerators and washing machines increased last year, encouraged by the government's across-the-board cash handouts of 100,000 yen per person to soften the economic blow of the coronavirus.

       The average monthly income of salaried households with at least two people in July fell a real 2.2 percent to 668,062 yen, down for the third month in a row, mainly due to last year's cash handout program by the government.

       Household spending is a key indicator of private consumption, which accounts for more than half of Japan's gross domestic product.

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