Oogui 2006 : Gluttonous Queen of Japan
I have been able to track down information about the Japanese television series about female competitive eaters I wrote about earlier this week. The show, Oogui 2006, is broadcast on TV Tokyo and the second episode will be televised Sunday night. (The program debuted on Tuesday.) The program’s home page is http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/oogui2006/ (Google translation) If Japanese competitive eating can command 2 hours of broadcast television in prime time Sunday night, it cannot be doing that badly.
In the contest, seven competitors are chosen from two qualifiers and then a series of contests are held which eliminate the last place finisher until only the champion remains. A similar event open to both genders was held last fall. Three qualifiers in the women’s contest also qualified for the open contest: Miyuki Iwata, Tomoko Mikaye, and Natsuko “The Gal” Sone. I am assuming that no slots in the open contest were reserved for women. Those three are the favorites for the women’s contest. Iwata is generally considered the top Japanese female competitive eater after Takako Akasaka (she lost the 2005 Tokyo Nathan’s qualifier by just one hot dog), but “The Gal” has more “upside” because she is only 19 while Iwata is 32. (I hope to write individual posts about the above three competitors later this week.)
Japanese Blog entries about the contest can be found at: Everyday of the R sea bass gluttony (Google translation) and Much & Fast (Google translation)
Click below for screen captures from the contest and additional information
Qualifying Round
Two qualifiers are held in Tokyo and Osaka which are apparently open to anyone willing to pay an admission fee. The top five finishers in Tokyo and the top two in Osaka make the elimination rounds.
Takako Akasaka (on the left), the all time leading Japanese female competitive eater (and the first woman to eat more than 20 hot dogs in Nathan’s) is sitting this contest out, but is serving as a commentator. Takako turned 50 last year.
Nobuyuki “The Giant” Shirota (in the back, who has the highest amount at Nathan’s by someone not named Kobayashi (38) , is also serving as a commentator.
Elimination Rounds
The above women advance to the elimination rounds (from left to right). Tomoko Miyake (gold tag) #2 Tokyo, “The Gal” (pink tag) #1 Osaka, Mori (in back) #4 Tokyo, Iwata (violet tag) #1 Tokyo, Saito (in back) #3 Tokyo, “The Nurse” (red tag) #2 Osaka, Ro (blue tag) #5 Tokyo. The rightmost woman is the contest doctor and not a competitor.
7 -> 6 – Seaweed
The first elimination contest involves seaweed in Okinawa.
Shirota overlooks (from left to right) “The Gal”, Iwata and Tomoko Miyake
Results of the first round are:
1 25 “The Nurse” (嘉数åƒæµ)
2 24 Iwata (岩田ミユã‚)
3 20 “The Gal” (æ›½æ ¹å¥ˆæ´¥å)
4 17 Tomoko Mikaye (三宅智å)
5 15 Ro (若園真由香)
5t 15 Saito (斉藤åƒæµ) (needed a lactation break)
7 13 Mori (森åƒå¤) eliminated
A dark horse, “The Nurse” wins the first round beating Iwata by one plate.
6 -> 5 – Sausage
The field is reduced from 6 eaters to 5 in a sausage contest that will be broadcast on Sunday. Silverware must apparently be used in the contest. Condiments are provided.
(from left to right) Ro, Saito, “The Gal”, Iwata
(from left to right) “The Gal”, Iwata and Tomoko Miyake. The Gal apparently does quite well in this round judging by the number of plates she has piled up. It will be interesting to see how the Gal’s final result compares with Sonya’s 35 bratwurst in 10 minutes (and it would be extremely interesting if the winner of this contest could face off against Sonya).
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beautifulbrian said
April 1, 2006 @ 10:45 pm
Good job with the story and photos OJ. I went through the entire story with the translation and even with the translation it is somewhat difficult to understand what they are talking about. I dont think any of those female eaters can beat Sonya. They are good but going against Sonya in hot dogs would be a mismatch. Aside from Kobe, Shirtota, Arai and a few others, the Japanese are not the greatest hot dog eaters in the world. However they are at a disadvantage because they dont have Nathans hot dogs or any kind of real american hot dogs in Japan. I like the pic of the seaweed contest on the beach near the ocean. Maybe they should invite Krazy Kevin next time for that one.
The Tubesock Destroyer said
April 2, 2006 @ 4:52 am
Firstly I want to say that you do an awesome job of researching competitive eating and keeping everyone up to date with stuff like this.
Secondly, for your information (FYI), The Tubesock Destroyer respects these women because of not only their gorgeous looks, but because of their win-at-any-cost attitudes. They’re all fantastic and I hope someday one of them will be interested in bringing a child into this world with me.
liveazzniggaz said (Registered April 26, 2006)
May 13, 2006 @ 1:29 am
demn the gal look good as hell I wish I could get with her im looking for a fine girl like her the gal if you is reading holla back at liveazzniggaz@yahoo.com and if any fine asian girls out looking for a man holla back im a black man holla back
Yo Mama said
May 13, 2006 @ 11:40 am
oj he has a great idea. trench can be a personals board. uh, yeah.
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Phuong said
May 12, 2013 @ 12:46 pm
Hello,
I am a fan of the show even though I have only seen it on youtube. I am creating a Facebook fan page of the show and since I do not speak Japanese, I do hope that you’ll help. 🙂
anonymous said
January 10, 2016 @ 5:06 pm
Good job in this thread OJ! I came across this by accident. A lot of pics and well researched,a long with a lot of enthusiasm.
What about Hatsuyo Surgawara? How does she compare? And Hitomi Sato and Moeno Azuki?
anonymous said
January 10, 2016 @ 5:09 pm
And also Yuka Kioshita. I wish there was some kind of resource to rank Japanese eaters. I might have to start studying Japanese.