Nine people had choked to death as of Friday after eating glutinous “mochi” rice cakes to celebrate the new year, an official and local media reported Sunday.
In Tokyo alone, 18 people were sent to hospitals after experiencing varying degrees of suffocation due to eating the traditional New Year’s delicacy, and three of them died, a Tokyo Fire Department official said.
The daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the nationwide death toll from rice cake incidents had hit nine as of Friday, with 13 other mochi victims in a serious condition.
The fire department is advising people, especially the elderly and infants, to slice the deceptively gooey rice cakes into smaller pieces if possible before eating them.
During the busy year-end holiday period, families traditionally cook “zoni” soup for New Year’s Day containing the sticky rice cakes. Several die each year after choking on them.
The Darwinian way of sieving out those who know how to eat and those who don't.
