Authorities appeal to elderly to be careful when eating 'mochi'

National ( 21 )

TOKYO —

The National Police Agency and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency on Monday appealed to elderly people to be careful when eating “mochi” rice cakes during the New Year holidays.

The cakes, a traditional New Year’s food, cause choking incidents among elderly people every year. Authorities appealed to people across Japan to cut up their mochi into small chunks and to eat it with great care, and in the presence of someone else.

Last year on New Year’s Day, emergency services in Tokyo took 13 elderly people to hospital after they choked on the “mochi.” Two of them died.

Japan Today

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21 Comments

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  • -2

    nigelboy

    It won't work. There will always be elders who think it won't happen to them but they forget that they are a year older.

  • -1

    LiveInTokyo

    It won't work. There will always be elders who think it won't happen to them but they forget that they are a year older.

    Everything in life is the same. It wont happen to me but it can. Unfortunately well see a few more of these accidents on TV tonight. Just incredible though, 13 people were taken to hospital and 2 died in Tokyo last year. I wonder what the nationwide statistic is?

  • -1

    Dan Joseph

    How many mochi deaths occur yearly? Weren't kids dying of konnyaku jelly choking as well?

  • -1

    some14some

    elderly seldom listen to anybody :)

  • 0

    JoeBigs

    I have to go over to my Mother-in-laws house today my wife is there already digging into the mochi.

    Hell, mochi is not just a danger to the old, it also can choke the hell out of you if you've had a few.

    Seen many drunken relatives having to use their fingers to pull mochi out of their mouthes the hard way.

    I for one will not eat it if I have had a few.

  • -5

    Lyndon Green

    Can’t stand the stuff.

  • -2

    Knox Harrington

    So this is what the police here spend time on?! Well, easier than enforcing traffic regulations, I guess.

    Mochi is vile stuff. A ton of my co-workers have asked me the last week if I can eat mochi. I explain to Them that, sure I can, but I refuse to because it is some of the worst "foods" on earth. There is absolutely no point ingesting this concentraded form of rice nowadays more than perhaps the feeling of "natsukashii" which the Japanese seem to thrive on.

    When you, theoretically, have a bunch of good food around, why would you voluntarily eat mochi?

  • -1

    some14some

    When you, theoretically, have a bunch of good food around, why would you voluntarily eat mochi?

    to respect food traditions, perhaps (!)

  • 2

    cleo

    When you, theoretically, have a bunch of good food around, why would you voluntarily eat mochi?

    Some folk actually like it. I particularly like the brown rice omochi, toasted on the stove till it swells up then served in soup or o-nabe. Yum.

  • 3

    apeman

    Perhaps people eat mochi because they like it? I quite like it myself, especially in sweets. I can understand some people may not care for it, just like any other food, but I don't see how you can characterize it as "vile stuff" - it's rather bland on its own. Do need to be careful though however old you are - I once bit off more then I could chew and had a bit of a scare.....

  • 5

    zichi

    We (old people) like mochi but we haven't eaten it for a couple of years.

  • -1

    aedfed

    A lot of the elderly operate on the principle that it's never happened to me, so it's not going to happen. Good luck convincing them otherwise.

  • -2

    philly1

    Ah yes. Mochi. Glutinous golf balls passed off as food. Handy enough though, if you don't have and need Imodium. (Wink.)

    Ah yes. Nostalgia. There might be a few planters in municipal and hotel reception rooms that still contain the deposits I discretely left there in an effort to be polite in the late 1990s. Natto, fish & chicken offal and raw eggs, fine. Can do!

    Mochi? Sorry.

  • 1

    GW

    Nothing wrong with mochi if eaten properly & with the right soup/toppings etc.

    I suspect those who dont like have bought the mochi squares in the bag at the supa & open the plastic & try to eat with cooking LOL!!!!

  • 0

    GW

    without cooking haha

  • -3

    Weasel

    Binge drinking for the young, and mochi warnings for the elderly. Neither groups adhere the warnings, and we read of their obituaries on January 2nd each year.

  • 1

    knight_of_Honour

    Mochi is always good, and even here in the USA I still make it sometimes with my machine. Even after my wife left me. It was more fun pounding it in the traditional way in Japan, but it's still good. And Americans who won't eat it or eat bean curd are missing an essential part of Japanese food and way of life. My mother in law was always afraid I'd hit her hand when she turned the mochi, but I never did.

  • -4

    Knox Harrington

    to respect food traditions, perhaps (!)

    What a superb reason. Don't eat what you like - respect the traditions.

  • 0

    ensnaturae2

    Mochi is maybe a kind of trad comfort food - things the family always shared together. Old folks just forget the family isnt there anymore, or the mochi brings back memories - the older they (we) get the more we forget.. My comfort food is thick doorsteps (bread) and butter and jam - as a late night snack (with GERD) more lethal than any gummy golf ball mochi. I like the sticky sweet brown ones on a bbq spike.

  • -2

    basroil

    Mochi really isn't the issue, biting off more than they can chew is. Old people tend to forget they aren't young anymore, and that raises choking hazards. I bet more elderly choked on other things than just mochi, but for the same reason.

  • -1

    Peter Payne

    @Lyndon, try it, there's almost no more delicious food in Japan. Maybe try to learn something while you're here.

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