Japanese New Year’s Day competitive eating
R Suzuki reports that team eating contests were held during a New Year’s Day television special. The West team had Gal Sone and Takuya Yamamoto while the East team had Nobuyuki Shirota and Tomoko Miyake. The teams also contained some other celebrities. Men’s, women’s and mixed gender contests were held. The mixed gender contest was a 30 minute sushi contest which was won by the Galsone (154 pieces) / Yamamoto (174 pieces) team.
Tomoko Miyake reports about competing in the event in her blog.
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Rhonda Evans said
January 2, 2007 @ 1:23 pm
That’s real nice and a good job by all, but I think they were just eating fairly casually, so that they could tast their food.
It’s a shame there isn’t a Sushi contest in the US, let alone a 30-minute one, or that there isn’t one that pays good money in Japan that Sonya might be invited to. It’s my understanding that Sonya enjoys Sushi, and given 30 minutes, there is little doubt in my mind that she could eat at least 350 by herself — and that guess may prove to be conservative.
I also believe that Kobayashi, Rich LeFevre, and Joey could each break the 350 barrier. (Koby could probably eat 500 or more.)
KevinRoss said
January 2, 2007 @ 2:46 pm
A long form sushi contest would be very interesting. I myself do AYCE sushi regularly since there is a place in my town. I sure as heck don’t come close to 350 pieces though (maybe 100 if I’m eating only nigiri sushi and not rolls). I find sushi very difficult. All that expanding rice! But I suppose, if I can eat 100, then all those top eaters probably can eat 3x what I can or more. So maybe your guess is not too far fetched. It would certainly be amazing to watch. I’m VERY curious as to what the top eaters could do if given an ample amount of time to really reach their capacities.
Rhonda Evans said
January 2, 2007 @ 3:53 pm
Thanks for your input Kevin. One hundred is VERY good, regardless.
It would be MOST interesting to see a contest (other than Wing Bowl) of 20 minutes or more where one’s stomach capacity would be tested. That would help form a better and more accurate picture of one’s true competitive eating talent. Naturally, however, eaters with limited capacity would abhor it.
But capacity is perhaps the best indicator of one’s eating ability. And let’s face it. Eaters like Sonya, Rich LeFevre, and Tim are hampered by an absence of such contests, and should be ranked higher than they are right now.
But what do I know. Everyone has and is entitled to an opinion.
KevinRoss said
January 4, 2007 @ 6:14 pm
Thanks for the compliment about the 100. The thing with me is, I feel as though I can outeat almost anybody off the street. Except I’m nowhere remotely near the top eaters and my speed isn’t so good. But heck, I’m still having fun with it.
I’ve talked to a certain top eater (I won’t name names, heh) who will readily admit that people like Sonya have a larger capacity than him. You’re right that if there was more long form contests, the rankings would be different.
I think it would be neat if most of the contests were 8-12 minutes like they are, since that’s a nice range, but additionally more 20-45 minutes were thrown in there – to really see what people can do. My money would be on lefevre for those types of things though. That guy’s capacity is no joke.