Japan's economy outperformed those of the euro zone and United States in January-March for the second straight quarter.
The economy expanded by 0.8 per cent in January-March from the previous quarter on robust growth in capital spending, raising expectations the Bank of Japan (BoJ) will raise rates in August.
On an annual basis, GDP grew 3.3 per cent, up from a preliminary reading of a 2.4 per cent rise, the government said today. That was slightly higher than economists' consensus forecast for a revision to 3.1 per cent.
Japan's January-March GDP growth compared with 0.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth in the euro zone and an annualised 0.6 per cent expansion in the United States.
Largely behind the upward revision was strength in capital spending, which was marked up to a 0.3 per cent rise from a preliminary 0.9 per cent fall.
The government expects Japan to achieve growth of 2.0 per cent in the fiscal year that began on April 1st, and a senior official at the Cabinet Office gave an upbeat assessment.
A slump in consumption in the middle of last year was a key reason for the BoJ's decision to hold off on raising rates in January, before raising them to 0.50 per cent in February.
The central bank is widely expected to keep rates on hold at its two-day policy meeting that ends on Friday, but it has said it will raise rates gradually to keep on top of inflation.
Many analysts expect the next rate rise to come sometime in the July-September quarter.
Japan is currently enjoying its longest period of economic expansion in the postwar era, albeit at a slower pace than previous booms, thanks to solid exports and capital spending.