Tokyo stocks rose 0.56 per cent, after gains on Wall Street and as investors digested weaker than expected Japanese growth data.
The Nikkei-225 index climbed 80.08 points to 14,393.11, while the Topix index of all first-section shares was up 0.70 per cent, or 8.23 points, to 1,192.05.
Just before the market opened, data showed Japan's economy grew 0.3 per cent in the October-December quarter, bringing the annual expansion to 1.6 per cent in 2013 - the best result in three years.
But the quarterly growth was weaker than the average 0.7 per cent expansion economists had tipped in a survey by the Nikkei economic daily.
US stocks ON Friday vaulted higher as investors shrugged off a report showing poor industrial output last month as being mainly weather-related.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.79 per cent to 16,154.39.
The us dollar was worth 101.69 yen on Monday afternoon, down from 101.81 yen in New York Friday afternoon.
The euro bought $US1.3696 against $US1.3695 while slipping to 139.33 yen from 139.42 yen.
"With earnings reporting season largely over, players are looking for the next catalyst, which might be anything the BoJ (Bank of Japan) has to say about GDP and any changes it may harbour in its economic outlook," an equity trading director at a foreign brokerage told Dow Jones Newswires.
In Tokyo trade, Sony rose 0.88 per cent to 1,718 yen while Nissan jumped 1.65 per cent to 919 yen. But Toyota fell 0.34 per cent to 5,793 yen.
