TOKYO—Japan’s core consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in December from a year earlier, increasing for a second month in a row at the fastest pace in nearly two years in a sign of broadening inflationary pressure from rising fuel and raw material costs. The recent inflation pick-up drew the attention of Bank of Japan (BOJ) policymakers, some of whom said firms might be starting to be more aggressive in passing on higher costs to consumers, minutes of their December interest rate-setting meeting showed on Friday. “It’s unlikely Japan will see wages rise as sharply as in the United States. But there’s a significant chance both economic growth and inflation could overshoot expectations,” one BOJ board member was quoted as saying in the meeting. The rise in the core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food but includes energy costs, was slightly below market forecasts for a 0.6 percent …