Japan June retail sales fall 0.6 percent year-on-year

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese retail sales fell 0.6 percent in June from a year earlier, down for a third straight month, government data showed on Tuesday, a sign the pullback in demand after a sales tax rise remains a drag on consumer spending. The decrease compared with a 0.5 percent annual decline expected by economists in a Reuters poll. That followed a 0.4 percent annual drop in May and a 4.3 percent fall in the year to April, data by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed. The government raised the national sales tax to 8 percent from 5 percent on April 1 to help fix tattered public finances. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)