The National Police Agency and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency are urging elderly people to be careful when eating mochi rice cakes during the New Year holidays.

The appeal is made every year at this time. The sticky cakes, a traditional New Year's food, cause choking incidents among elderly people.

Authorities have advised people to cut up their mochi into small chunks and to eat it with great care, and in the presence of someone else.

During the New Year period, families traditionally cook ozoni soup and put the rice cakes in the vegetable broth.

© Japan Today