Hot Dog Eating as Metaphor
Forget metaphor, let’s just say out loud what I know you are thinking: the defeat of Takeru Kobayashi at the 2007 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest signals the end of Japanese global dominance.
But how unfair: American Joey Chestnut took the title away from the long-time champion only after stealing eating techniques that Kobayashi invented.
Again, we see the same pattern: the Japanese create original conceptual innovations, and the Americans appropriate these and profit from small incremental innovations upon the Japanese ideas. Kobayashi — coming out of an incredibly creative Japanese education system — invented the “Solomon technique,” and now those brain-dead zombies from the United States have stolen it and used their massive advantages in thuggish physique to beat the genius at his own game. Kobayashi must have been thinking about this when he very literally threw up a little in his own mouth.
First, hot dogs, next steel production. Will karma catch up to Americans or will they be allowed to keep profiting off the innovations of others?
July 6, 2007 at 12:37 pm
First hot dog eating, then automobile manufacturing, the incremental steps between the two are so obvious I am not going to debate them unless you read this book, the most insightful piece on Japan I’ve ever read
http://www.amazon.com/Speed-Tribes-Nights-Japans-Generation/dp/0060926651
(Is your post a translation of a 2ch post or something?)
July 6, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Re: Speed Tribes. I am happy to point you to my archives:
http://www.pliink.com/mt/marxy/archives/000820.html
July 6, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Tell me more about this “Solomon Technique.”
July 6, 2007 at 1:04 pm
You cut them babies in half, son.
July 6, 2007 at 1:13 pm
And that’s kosher?
hawt dawg!
July 6, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Not another “Pakuri” post in a week!
July 6, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Oh, John. You just got served.
I completely agree with you, marxy. By the way, your CD rocks!
July 6, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Thanks, Oxo.
Also – if you are wondering why there’s not much going on here, we are busy working on the new site that will mostly likely launch in August. More soon.
July 6, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Anybody had eaten Nathan’s hotdogs lately?
I ate it couple month ago at Tokyu department store in Kichijyoji.The stand is right next to starbucks.It was major dissapointment.I’ll stick to Doutor coffee’s “German Hotdog”
July 6, 2007 at 4:34 pm
I like Nathan’s hot dogs generally. I just tend to eat 1 or 2.
July 6, 2007 at 5:55 pm
whole or haved
July 6, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I prefer not to dip the buns in water. That’s kind of gross. Then again, I am not really a professional eater. I just do it for sustenance.
July 6, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Ah fake posts, they are the best.
July 7, 2007 at 1:21 am
i like sabrett’s the best.
July 8, 2007 at 3:48 pm
The commentator on ESPN said that Joey Chesnut winning this thing was one of the greatest things to happen in American sports history.
One day later the US beats Brazil 2-1 at the U-20 Championship.
July 9, 2007 at 12:15 pm
“One day later the US beats Brazil 2-1 at the U-20 Championship.”
Of dog-eatin’?
July 9, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Nah, soccer. That is one great moment in American sports history.
July 10, 2007 at 5:01 pm
“You cut them babies in half, son.”
Wouldn’t that be the Herod technique, then?
Solomon technique would be more like pretending to cut them in half and then swallowing them whole, for great justice.
July 11, 2007 at 4:18 am
So if Kobayashi is now a symbol of terminal decline, does that mean a frightening rise in nationalistic anti-bear sentiment?
Is there a tie-in with Stephen Colbert?
http://fox59.trb.com/entertainment/foxnetwork/stv-fox-man-vs-beast-gallery,0,366180.photogallery?coll=wxin-ent-utility&index=5
July 11, 2007 at 11:16 pm
TJJ said:
“”You cut them babies in half, son.”
Wouldn’t that be the Herod technique, then?
Solomon technique would be more like pretending to cut them in half and then swallowing them whole, for great justice.”
Sorry to make use of an over-milked internet meme but seriously; Best. Post. Ever.
July 12, 2007 at 12:03 am
Yeah, I thought that was funny too.