A 28-Year-Old Choked to Death in Fast-Eating Contest!

Of all ridiculous things known to man, the ultimate has to be fast-eating. It is ridiculous because such a habit does cost you damage to your health, if not your life itself.

A recent incident in Shiga, Japan, turned out to evidence that it is no joke after all. A 28-year-old male in Hikone, Shiga, took part in a rice ball fast-eating contest and choked himself to death. Don't laugh - it really happened,

The contest is an annual event organized by the local farmers' cooperative for promoting the local brand of rice. This year's event featured a Rice ball Fast-Eating Content and this unfortunate man chanced to join others to compete in how quickly to gulp down five rice balls - of all things!

The event took place on November 13 and the man was taken to the hospital for treatment the very day and died three days afterward, November 16.

The organizers had cups of tea ready to wet the throat　but the man obviously hadn't done that enough and choked in the middle of challenging his 5th rice ball. The organizers commented regrets and said they would reexamine the event itself with a view to possibly suspending it in the future.

Fast-eating is not uncommon lately, similar contests being challenged elsewhere with difference foods - soba noodles, hamburgers, cakes and you name it. Watching an innocent young girl devouring heaps of drumsticks is fun and yet strangely painful - "why torment your breadbasket that way!?"

Let's face it, though. This is already a culture of its own. There are numerous eating  joints geared to "promote" fast-eating. A sushi restaurant in Shinjuku, Tokyo, offers a course for 4,200 yen (male) and 3,150 yen (female) that lets you eat fresh maguro-sushi to your stomach's content without time limits. 

Well, if you, by any chance, were one of those with this unique trait, Japan is the place to visit. (Nathan Shiga)