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Factsheet

• Enjoyed sports (baseball, running, weight-lifting) in his school years, while also demonstrating his intestinal skills, downing 10 bottles of milk to break a school record.
• Burst onto the U.S. scene by chowing down 50 hot dogs and buns---nearly doubling the previous record---in 12 minutes to win the 2001 Nathan's International Contest on Coney Island.
• Devoured the competition at "Nathan's" for five more years before three dramatic losses (2007 to 2009) to upstart American Joey Chestnut.
• Burnished his reputation as a global force by setting records in consuming noodles, lobster rolls, rice balls, cow brains, vegetarian dumplings, pork buns and bratwurst and more. 
• Triumphed in four of the first six editions of the Krystal Square Off, a hamburger-eating contest in Chattanooga; defeated rival Chestnut in 2009, after Chestnut's victory in 2008.
• Threw down 10 whole pizzas in 12 minutes to defeat Canadian favorite "Furious Pete" in an August 2010 contest in Ontario.
• Missed out on the 2010 Nathan's event due to a contractual dispute with organizers (IFOCE/Major League Eating). Kobayashi was arrested after storming the stage after a contest and his name was removed from the champions billboard in April of 2011. (He later said: "They cannot erase what people remember.")
• Enjoyed a cheesesteak in 24 seconds as a between-rounds stunt at Wing Bowl 19, a 2011 Philadelphia competition Kobayashi was scouting for possible future entry.