KYUSHU A 57-year-old man died after being bitten on the throat by a Tosa dog he had kept at his home in Mizumaki, Fukuoka Prefecture, police said. [MAINICHI]

SCIENCE Japanese drug maker Astellas Pharma said on Monday it was seeking approval for an additional application of its key transplant drug in Japan. [REUTERS]

BUSINESS Japan’s government may signal it will consider cutting corporate taxes in an effort to encourage more foreign investment into an economy expected to grow at the slowest pace in five years this year. [BLOOMBERG]

KYUSHU The Nagasaki District Court on Monday ordered the government to scrap its decision not to recognize 20 people as sufferers of atomic bomb-related diseases, accepting their claims in a lawsuit against the government. [MAINICHI]

STOCKS Japan’s Nikkei stock average slid 0.6 percent to a nearly one-month closing low on Monday as Mitsubishi Estate Co and other property developers took a beating on reports of lower condominium prices, while blue-chip exporters slid after Wall Street tumbled. [REUTERS]

POLITICS Japan warned on Sunday it may impose harsher sanctions against North Korea if the communist state failed to meet its promise in a long-running row over its abduction of Japanese nationals. [AFP]

SOCCER Atsuto Uchida scored a freak late goal as Japan beat Bahrain 1-0 to clinch Asian Group 2 in their final third-round qualifier for the 2010 World Cup on Sunday. [KYODO]

BASEBALL Tomoaki Kanemoto homered in consecutive at-bats and drove in three runs in the Hanshin Tigers’ 5-3 win over the Nippon Ham Fighters in interleague play on Sunday. [KYODO]

NATIONAL As controversy grows over Japan’s whaling, the small coastal towns with a history of the hunt are sticking to their guns, fearing that their way of life is under threat. [AFP]

POLITICS The Japanese government will come up with measures on Tuesday to promote the household use of solar power systems by introducing subsidies and tax breaks from next year, it was reported on Sunday. [REUTERS]

NATIONAL Heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected in wide areas from southwestern to eastern Japan on the Pacific side until late Sunday as a seasonal rain front hangs over areas from mainland China and Kyushu to the Kanto region, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. [KYODO]

KANSAI Two women sustained minor injuries when they were cut on the arm in separate incidents on a platform of JR Osaka Station on Sunday afternoon.

KANTO Former House of Councillors President Yutaka Inoue died of lung fibrosis on Sunday at a hospital in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, his family said. He was 80. [KYODO]

KANTO Artist Taro Okamoto’s massive “Asu no Shinwa”, a mural depicting a nuclear explosion, will be displayed for free at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo on Sunday. [MAINICHI]

KANSAI Police and other authorities tightened security throughout the city on Friday, both on the ground and across waterways, as the Group of Eight finance ministers meeting got under way here. [YOMIURI]

POLITICS The Group of Eight finance ministers meeting closed Saturday with the adoption of a joint statement in which the nations agreed to make efforts to secure the stability and growth of the global economy amid increasing inflationary pressure caused by soaring oil and food prices. [YOMIURI]

BUSINESS Representatives from labor organizations, employers and the government have reached a broad agreement to raise minimum hourly wages to a national average of about 755 yen, up 68 yen from the current 687 yen, over the next five years. [YOMIURI]

NATIONAL Tokyo Tower will not be illuminated between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Saturday. Nor will the Sapporo Clock Tower in the Hokkaido capital. Nor will Matsumoto Castle in Nagano Prefecture. But don’t worry; it’s not a solar storm or a rolling blackout–it’s part of the Candle Night movement. [YOMIURI]

CELEBRITIES Avex officially confirmed Thursday that the company has signed former Morning Musume member Maki Goto. The singer has been inactive for the past several months since she left the Hello! Project amid the scandal caused by her brother’s arrest in October for multiple counts of theft. (1) [TOKYOGRAPH]

NATIONAL The Ministry of Justice has informed an Osaka woman without family register records that it will create a new type of family register for her children, listing each child as the head person on the register, it has been learned. [MAINICHI]