Two people have died after choking on mochi rice cakes, a deadly New Year’s trend in Japan.

Despite annual warnings from authorities, Japan’s deadly New Year’s trend continued this week as two people died. smothered in mochi — a steamed sweet rice dough cake traditionally served to celebrate the new year. During the first three days of January, 9 people were taken to hospitals in Tokyo after choking on mochi. This was reported by “Japan Today”.It reports with reference to the Tokyo Fire Department. Two of those people, both elderly men, later died.

A man in his 70s was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead after choking on mochi at his home in Itabashi, near Tokyo, on New Year’s Day. This was reported by local television. According to Japan Today, another 80-year-old man, who lives in Nerima, Tokyo, also died of suffocation.

Mochi is a staple of the Japanese New Year’s menu and is often eaten in a delicious soup called ozoni. Emily Anderson, curator at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, This was reported by “CBS Sunday Morning”. Last month, New Year is the most important holiday in Japan, and the taste of rice cake is an integral part of the celebration.

“Eating mochi is a really important part of the most important family-oriented day,” he said.

But sticky cakes easily get stuck in people’s throats and prevent breathing. Don’t drown mochi it’s so common that authorities issue tips every year on how to help someone with food stuck in their throat. The National Police Agency and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency advise people to cut rice cakes into small pieces and eat them next to each other every year, Japan Today informed.

Despite public warnings, foods made from chopped, steamed rice were the cause drowning deaths almost every year, often among older people. Based on a request from the Tokyo Fire Department local mediaFrom 2019 to 2023, 368 people were hospitalized with mochi or other objects stuck in their throats, and more than 90% of them were people over 65.

In 2022, four elderly women died after choking on rice cakes, and 12 others were hospitalized. In 2015 nine people were believed to be dead participates in the annual culinary tradition.

In 2001, a famous woman saved her father’s life used a vacuum cleaner Removing mochi from the throat of a 70-year-old man.