Should manufacturing mochi be made illegal?
Posted by Matt Dioguardi on May 21st, 2008
From the Japan Times, an article about consumer protectionism states:
Also attending the meeting were Yuka Murata, 46, whose 7-year-old son suffocated in 2007 after eating “konnyaku” (devil’s-tongue) jelly, and Japan Federation of Bar Associations President Makoto Miyazaki. Murata criticized the government for failing to take swift measures to curb product-related accidents, saying, “An accident caused by (konnyaku) jelly produced by the same maker also occurred 10 years ago.”
There’s no doubt that this is a tragedy. But as someone whose eaten these things and given them to his child, I have to say konnyaku jelly is about as dangerous as mochi, those gooey rice cakes so popular during the New Years holiday. That is you have to be careful when you eat certain foods like this, and you have to watch your children carefully when they eat foods like this.
So while I understand how horrible the parents must feel here about what happened, what are we to do, make mochi and mochi-like desert products something that can only be produced in the black market?
May 25th, 2008 at 11:53 am
There are many rules to Japan’s politics. One of the REALLY REALLY REALLY big rules is to NEVER piss off the Farm Lobby. Seriously.
I think even the Yakuza are scared of them….
June 6th, 2008 at 2:07 am
Really, how people have come to think mochi and konnyaku are good to eat is beyond me.