I love all manner of Japanese food, from sushi and sashimi to katsu curry, which is thick Japanese curry rice with a fried pork or chicken cutlet in it — yum. I’m also a fan of the #1 “fast food” in Japan, gyudon or beef bowl, delicious steamed beef and onions on rice, which is inexpensive and convenient (and available in gyudon flavored potato chip form today, in case you were curious about the taste). While Japanese food can be very healthy, there are certain types that can kill you faster than a Death Note. The most famous deadly Japanese food is fugu (blowfish), which contains a poison that paralyzes your body while stopping your respiratory system, but since fugu chefs must undergo years of training and be licensed by the government, deaths are quite rare today. (Most come from fishermen trying to prepare fish they caught themselves.) Then there’s konnyaku, aka konjac or Devil’s Tongue, which can be described as extremely firm gelatin-like stuff that can be a choking hazard to the elderly and small children. But the most dangerous Japanese food might be mochi, translated into English as “rice cake,” although this sounds really strange to Japanese when they hear it. Mochi is essentially a square of extremely dense rice that’s been pressed into a solid shape. Cook it over a flame and it will turn soft and chewy, and it’s delicious with soy sauce and nori. Yet watch out — this past New Year’s weekend saw ten deaths from elderly people choking on mochi in the Tokyo area alone. The safe way to eat mochi is to cut it into smaller pieces so it’ easier to chew and swallow, and don’t let very young or old people eat it alone.
Mochi is one of Japan’s most delicious and dangerous foods, but I love it.
