The total orders stood at 859.7 billion yen (7.8 billion U.S. dollars), not including those for ships and from utilities due to their volatility, according to the Cabinet Office.
Machinery orders are regarded as a leading indicator of business capital expenditures.
The number came after a drop of 1.5 percent in June, following a growth for three straight months since March.
Machinery orders from the manufacturing industry gained 6.7 percent to 431.1 billion yen, expanding for the fourth consecutive month.
A government official said that electrical manufacturers' orders for semiconductor production equipment stayed active in the context of global chip tightening, while demand from the shipbuilding and automotive sectors has been rising recently.
Non-manufacturing industry's orders shrank 9.5 percent to 425.9 billion yen, the first contraction in three months in a row. Those from the construction as well as wholesale and retailing sectors were particularly sluggish, the official said.
The assessment by the Cabinet Office remained that machinery orders are showing "signs of picking up," keeping unchanged for the second consecutive month after an upward revision in May.
"The three-month moving average of the orders continued to be on the upswing, but the gain was relatively small on a single-month basis, so we'd like to wait and see a little more," the official said.
Orders totaled 2.9 trillion yen, up 11.7 percent from the previous month. Among them, overseas orders which are regarded as an indicator for future exports, surged 24.1 percent to 1.5 trillion yen, following a fall of 10.0 percent in the earlier month.
Orders from the public sector jumped 14.0 percent to 293.7 billion yen after a 2.8 percent decrease in June. (1 U.S. dollar equals 109.62 yen)
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