The Tokyo stock exchange started Thursday's trading on an upswing, as investors await Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Friday.
The important Nikkei 225 index had risen by 0.7 percent by lunchtime, while the broader Topix index gained 0.1.
The mood was also relatively good in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng index rose 0.2.
Meanwhile, Shanghai's composite index hovered around zero, while the composite index in Shenzhen fell 0.6 percent.
