Kobayashi stormed to the forefront of the competitive eating circuit by winning the 2001 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, NY. In his very first year competing in the event, he obliterated the contest's old record, downing 50 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes. He nearly doubled the old record, and he did it in style: He didn't chew the hot dogs like his competitors; he was somehow able to swallow them nearly whole. And when he started to feel full halfway through the contest, he would contort his stomach like a belly dancer and then miraculously be able to cram in another dozen or so hot dogs. The crowds ate it up.