Natsuko "Gal" Sone
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Natsuko "Gal" Sone (Japanese: "ギャル" 曽根 菜津子 "gyaru" Sone Natsuko, b. December 4, 1985) is a female Japanese competitive eater. Her popularity has helped produce a resurgence in Japanese competitive eating or oogui after the outcry following the death of a Japanese schoolboy imitating an eating stunt in 2002 resulted in a three year hiatus for major Japanese eating contests.
[edit] Contest History
In TV Tokyo's "Gluttonous King" contest held in the fall of 2005, open to both men and women, Sone qualified for the finals and beat out Miyuki Iwata, then considered the leading Japanese female competitive eater after the legendary (and currently inactive) Takako Akasaka, for sixth place by just 6 grams of bread. TV Tokyo followed up its mixed gender contest with a women's only contest in the spring of 2006 in Okinawa. Sone easily won that event and had a comfortable enough lead in the final contest that she could afford to fix her makeup while the contest clock was running. She has made numerous other television appearances, most notably a weekly Wednesday morning contest with Nobuyuki "The Giant" Shirota, runner-up in Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2004. On July 11, 2006, Sone ate 6kg of curry in 23 minutes (Shirota required 14 minutes) In another telecast, the "Gal" consumed 40,000 calories in several restaurants.
[edit] "Gal" Trivia
Natsuko received her nickname for dressing in the gyaru or "gal" style. Her dyed blonde hair is a characterestic of that style. She works as a part time clerk in a miscellaneous goods store when she is not competing, but hopes to obtain her cook's license and eventually open her own restaurant catering to big eaters. When an X-ray was performed on her stomach, it appeared to be normal size, but its connection to the small intestine was larger than normal. [verification/correction needed] Her favorite condiment is mayonnaise and she often brings her own container of that topping to restaurants. Despite her massive meals, Sone weighs approximately only 43 kg (95 lbs) at a height of 160 cm (5' 4")
