Born in Nagano, Japan, Kobayashi set his first record at his rookie appearance on July 4, 2001, when he ate 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes at the Nathan’s Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest, doubling the previous record of 25. The record was so unexpected that when Kobayashi got to the later numbers, the organizers ran out of signs indicating how many dogs Kobayashi had eaten and had to resort to handwritten signs. Kobayashi would go on to break his own record three times in winning the contest six consecutive times (2001–2006).

Kobayashi expands his stomach for a competition by eating larger and larger amounts of food, and then exercises to ensure that fat will not impede expansion of his stomach during a competition.Kobayashi’s official web site gives his height as 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) and his weight as 58 kg (128 lb). However he’s weighed as much as 87 kg (192 lb) according to a June 29, 2006 blog entry.^[23] As of July 4, 2009, Kobayashi weighed in at 60 kg (132 lb) for the annual Fourth of July hot dog eating competition on Coney Island. Kobayashi is also known for his trademark body wiggle, referred to by some as the “Kobayashi Shake”, to force food down his esophagus and settle more compactly in his stomach. He eats hot dogs by splitting the frankfurter in half, dipping the buns in water, and then stuffing both parts in his mouth. He calls this the Solomon Method. On July 11 2014 Takeru Kobayashi ate twelve hamburgers in three minutes on the set of ‘Lo Show dei Record’ in Milan, Italy.