Among major shares in Tokyo, Panasonic was up 2.91 percent at 1,468 yen, industrial robot firm Fanuc was up 2.74 percent at 27,895 yen, and Olympus was up 0.95 percent at 2,018.5 yen.
The number of virus cases continues to soar in Japan and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga urged people to avoid gatherings, saying "the virus has no holidays".
Japan has booked a trade surplus of 366.8 billion yen ($3.5 billion) in November, the fifth consecutive monthly surplus, according to data released by the finance ministry before the opening bell, which prompted little reaction from investors.