Mochi deaths noted - 2012

It's time for me to note the annual New Year's mochi death toll from Japan.

(Look, this blog is high on Google search for only a few things:  Julia Gillard's enormous earlobes, forehead mites, and mochi deaths.   I have to keep going to maintain my pathetic numbers...)

Anyway, as with last year, it seems the English language media from Japan is slow to report this now, and I have to resort to Google searching in Japanese.

So far, I've come up with this, courtesy of Google translate, from Yomiuri Online:

The number of people were transported by ambulance to the New Year mochi choking is 3:00 pm daily, up to 13 people in Tokyo alone, two of whom died.

According to the Tokyo Fire Department, around noon on December 28, men in Nerima (82), died 草餅 clog. Noon to 30 men Hino (101) died of suffocation by clogging clots lunch.

I have had this confirmed:  yes, the story says the two who died were 82 and 101!  (I wonder who fed mochi - famous for causing choking in the aged) to the 101 year old. 

And looking that the searches in Japanese, that is all I can confirm so far.

This job is getting harder by the year....

I'll check for more reports tomorrow.

Update:  collected figures for the nation remain as evasive as ever.  Ah well.  Japan has had enough death within the last year without worrying about this.