Japanese stocks edged up at Wednesday's open, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street driven by a rally of semiconductor stocks.
The Nikkei 225 rose 217 points, or 0.3%, to 66,449.27 at the opening bell.
At home, Japan's trade shortfall unexpectedly grew to 406.9 billion yen in June, as a weaker yen inflated import costs and elevated crude prices from the Iran conflict added further pressure.
Elsewhere, investors' attention is turning to upcoming earnings from Tesla and Alphabet. This week, roughly a fifth of S&P 500 companies by market cap will report results.