Traders also mulled a warning from US President Barack Obama to Republican rivals not to delay raising the debt ceiling, as the next budget fight took shape in Washington following the battle to avert the "fiscal cliff".
Tokyo put on 1.25 percent in early trade boosted by the weak yen, which makes exporters' products cheaper, and as dealers hoped for more aggressive easing from the Bank of Japan to lift the world's third-biggest economy.
"The declining yen continues to pull investors off the fence, while earnings expectations from US companies, as well as for a broader global economic rebound, remain relatively firm," said SMBC Nikko Securities general manager of equities Hiroichi Nishi.
Hong Kong was up 0.15 percent and Shanghai rose 0.39 percent, adding to strong gains on Monday. Sydney put on 0.16 percent but Seoul slipped 0.52 percent.
There was no clear lead from Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.14 percent, but the broad-based S&P 500 falling 0.09 percent and the Nasdaq Composite shedding 0.26 percent.
Bernanke indicated on Monday, after Asian markets had closed, that the Fed's latest round of quantitative easing would continue.
He told an audience at the University of Michigan that "while we've made some progress there is still quite a ways to go", in comments reported by Dow Jones Newswires.
His comments were a relief to markets, dealers said, after minutes from the December meeting of Fed policymakers showed they were divided over how long the central bank should continue its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying programme.
AFP
