Born: March 15,1978 Nagano, Japan
Height: 173cm Weight: 58kg
- Childhood
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Despite being a big eater, Kobayashi was built small and says he lacked any outstanding talent. Raised to be independent and encouraged by his parents to have a mind of his own, Kobayashi says the one piece of advice his father always gave him as he grew up was to strive for the top in whatever he decided to do.
- Teenage Years
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Kobayashi loved sports, and became dedicated to running, hard-core weight training and at the same time monitoring and controlling his diet to support his bodybuilding. His school friends of the time tell of how he casually downed 10 bottles of milk, smashing the school record. His policy to be thankful and never leave anything to waste was established when he was a young teenager, and this stood him in good stead for his career to come.
- Professional Years
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No longer challenged in Japan, Kobayashi decided to take on the world, which began with a trial in Japan. Naturally enough, he won the Japanese trial and acquired the right to compete in an 86th World Championship Contest. Eating 50 hotdogs in just 12 minutes, Kobayashi broke the record with more than half of the time remaining. Media entities all over the world picked up the unbelievable news, astounded by lightweight Kobayashi's win over many heavyweight eaters. Since the hotdog contest had been reported in Japan every year, the popularity of competitive eating became an enormous boom in Japan. As more and more competitors were on television, Kobayashi made the firm decision to remain focused on competitions and to keep television appearances limited, despite demand. While refusing requests for television and event appearances, Kobayashi accepted more magazine and newspaper interviews. Not wanting to see a shallow and short-lived competitive eating boom, Kobayashi spoke in interviews, he warned the food fighters and the public, and also gave them an opportunity to think over the competitive eating boom. Kobayashi had to admit that there were many people who thought he was being very saucy, but did not change his attitude and even had the inner reserves of thinking about the reality in many perspectives.
- A Dark Age
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Influenced by the eating contest boom, a boy loses his life. The media responded to this tragedy by avoiding coverage of competitive eating for the three years that followed. This led to the loss of motivation in many competitors. Kobayashi, however, did not quit. With his strong motivation towards his sport, eating - neither the boom nor the media influenced KobayashI's values, and even after the boom had died down, he broke his own world record. Reports by the Japanese media about KobayashI's success in world competitions kept fans with their strong belief and hope in Kobayashi. This was to be of great encouragement for him during this tough time.
- Recent Years
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Kobayashi's style of competing, his statements, and his sculpted physique introduced to North America that competitive eating could truly be considered a sport. Competitive eating came to be reported in the sports category and broadcast on sports channels just two years after KobayashI's debut in the states. More competitions were held, and competitive eating spread all over the world. Kobayashi is now regarded as one of the leaders in this 21st century sport. He has been chosen to be in commercials with top athletes such as NIKE (chosen as one of the top 24 world athletes such as Michael Jordan), starred in commercials such as 2006 This Is Sports Center - alone as a representative of sports – proving to be considered an athlete in his abilities. Demand for him on American television shows and commercials, special guest appearances at the opening ceremony of baseball games and such, show without doubt that Kobayashi is one of the best know and most active Japanese in the world of sports.
