Japan's Nikkei snaps 5-day slide ahead of Jackson Hole conference

TOKYO, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei rose on Thursday after five straight sessions of losses, with drug makers leading the recovery, while investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole conference for clues on the pace of rate hikes.

The Nikkei share average had gained 0.56% to 28,471.61 by the midday break, while the broader Topix was up 0.38% at 1,974.65.

"Investors made a bet that the market would rebound after this big event is over, even if there are hawkish comments from the Fed meeting," said Ikuo Mitsui, a fund manager at Aizawa Securities.

"But they are also aware that inflation in the U.S. will be persistent and it will take time to contain it, so the market could soften next month."

Drug maker Daiichi Sankyo jumped 5% and was the biggest boost to the Nikkei, followed by chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron, climbing 0.75%, and medical equipment maker Terumo.

Mitsubishi Corp rose 1.89% as the trading firm said it had decided to apply for a stake in the new Russian entity that took over the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas project.

Nuclear power plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings rose 0.79% in its second straight session of gain, after the Japanese government said the nation would restart more idled nuclear plants and look at developing next-generation reactors.

Nuclear-related shares were strong, with IHI gaining 2.34%, Hitachi Zosen adding 2.16% and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries up 1.82%.

There were 155 advancers on the Nikkei index against 64 decliners.

The volume of shares traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's main board was 0.51 billion, compared with the average 1.11 billion in the past 30 days. (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)