04 January,2015 12:32 PM IST | | PTI
Nine people have choked to death in Japan after eating traditional glutinous mochi rice cakes to celebrate the New Year, an official and local media said today
Tokyo: Nine people have choked to death in Japan after eating traditional glutinous "mochi" rice cakes to celebrate the New Year, an official and local media said today.
In Tokyo alone, 18 people were hospitalised due to suffocation after eating the New Year delicacy, and three of
them died, a fire department official said.
The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said the death toll from rice cake accidents reached nine by Friday across the nation
and 13 others were in a serious condition.
During the New Year period, one of Japan's biggest holidays, families traditionally cook "ozouni" soup and put
the sticky rice cakes in the vegetable broth.
The fire department is advising people, especially the elderly and infants, to cut mochi into small pieces before
eating it.
Every year, several Japanese die after choking on rice cakes.
