Saved by hoover
Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:57 pm
...and I don't mean J. Edgar.
This one is old, but too good not to share.
vacuum cleaner saves man
TOKYO (AP) -- A Japanese man choking on a sticky, glutinous rice cake was saved when his daughter sucked the glob out with a vacuum cleaner, an official said Saturday.
Local fire station official Toshiyuki Matsuura said the 70-year-old man from northern Japan suddenly began gasping for air Tuesday as he chewed on a piece of "mochi,'' a food traditionally eaten by the Japanese around New Year's.
Family members first tried unsuccessfully to remove the food with their fingers. Then his daughter, 46, grabbed a vacuum cleaner, took out the man's dentures, and stuck the hose into his mouth with the switch turned to "high.''
The gooey, white mass slowly emerged, and the man, whose name was not disclosed, had almost fully recovered by the time paramedics arrived, Matsuura said.
"A vacuum cleaner could be useful in an emergency like that, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone because it's tricky,'' Matsuura said. "He was rather lucky.''
Mochi is one of the most widely recognized symbols of the New Year in Japan, when many homes and shrines are decorated with ritual offerings of hardened blocks of rice.
The blocks can become chewy and sticky when cooked. Every year, a handful of mostly elderly Japanese die after choking on mochi rice cakes, which are usually served grilled and wrapped in seaweed or in a broth.
This one is old, but too good not to share.
vacuum cleaner saves man
TOKYO (AP) -- A Japanese man choking on a sticky, glutinous rice cake was saved when his daughter sucked the glob out with a vacuum cleaner, an official said Saturday.
Local fire station official Toshiyuki Matsuura said the 70-year-old man from northern Japan suddenly began gasping for air Tuesday as he chewed on a piece of "mochi,'' a food traditionally eaten by the Japanese around New Year's.
Family members first tried unsuccessfully to remove the food with their fingers. Then his daughter, 46, grabbed a vacuum cleaner, took out the man's dentures, and stuck the hose into his mouth with the switch turned to "high.''
The gooey, white mass slowly emerged, and the man, whose name was not disclosed, had almost fully recovered by the time paramedics arrived, Matsuura said.
"A vacuum cleaner could be useful in an emergency like that, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone because it's tricky,'' Matsuura said. "He was rather lucky.''
Mochi is one of the most widely recognized symbols of the New Year in Japan, when many homes and shrines are decorated with ritual offerings of hardened blocks of rice.
The blocks can become chewy and sticky when cooked. Every year, a handful of mostly elderly Japanese die after choking on mochi rice cakes, which are usually served grilled and wrapped in seaweed or in a broth.
