Women dressed in ceremonial kimonos and a person in a cow outfit representing the year of the Ox, pose at the Tokyo Stock Exchange's (TSE) New Year opening ceremony in Tokyo January 5, 2009. Japan's Nikkei average rose 1.5 percent on Monday, the first trading day of 2009, after Wall Street rallied on Friday to its highest levels since early November on hopes 2009, will be a better year. [Agencies]