A New Year's tradition was fatal in Japan this year for four women who died of choking on the traditional sticky rice cakes known as "mochi".
The Tokyo Fire Department said all four women, all over the age of 80, were among more than a dozen people who were hospitalized after eating cobblers in the first two days of January.
Most were also in their 80s, officials said.
One of the dying women consumed "ozoni" rice cake soup on New Year's Day.
Every year ahead of New Year's celebrations, emergency officials in Japan urge the elderly to be careful when eating rice cakes. They say that it is best to cut the cobbler into small pieces.
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