{{Short description|Japanese competitive eater and singer (born 1985)}} {{BLP sources|date=June 2007}} {{Nihongo|'''Gal Sone'''|ギャル曽根|Gyaru Sone|born {{Nihongo|'''Natsuko Sone'''|曽根 菜津子|Sone Natsuko}} on December 4, 1985, in Maizuru, Kyoto}} is a female Japanese competitive eater and singer. Her popularity has helped produce a resurgence in Japanese competitive eating, or ''ōgui'', after the outcry following the death of a Japanese schoolboy imitating an eating stunt in 2002{{citation needed|date=May 2016}} resulted in a three-year break for major Japanese eating contests.
==Contest history== In TV Tokyo's [http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/oogui2005 "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 [https://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fplaza.rakuten.co.jp%2Fspillane%2Fdiary%2F200511100000%2F&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8 sixth place] by just 6 grams of bread. TV Tokyo followed up its mixed gender contest with a [http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/oogui2006/ women's only contest] in the spring of 2006 in Okinawa. Sone easily won the 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. Gal Sone improved to 3rd from 6th in the fall 2006 [http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/oogui2006_2/ "Gluttonous King"] contest, held in Hokkaidō and retained her crown in the spring 2007 [http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/oogui2007_4/ "Gluttonous Queen"] contest in Hawaii.
In addition to her "Gluttonous King/Queen" competitions, Sone has made numerous other television appearances, most notably a weekly Wednesday morning contest with '''"The Giant" Nobuyuki Shirota''', runner-up in Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2004. On July 11, 2006, Sone ate 6 kg of curry in 23 minutes (Shirota required 14 minutes) In another telecast, the "Gal" consumed 40,000 calories in several restaurants. In a recent program, Gal Sone attempted in a single meal to exceed the 15,000 calories that it is claimed that Elvis Presley consumed every day near the end of his life.
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.<ref name=singtao>{{cite news|script-title=zh:東洋大食妹名不虛傳|trans-title=Japanese girl competitive eater has her fame the same as she is|date=2008-08-06|publisher=Singtao Daily|author=周中|author-link=:zh:周中|language=Chinese}}</ref>
Gal Sone has appeared in a commercial for Aoki's Pizza, who created a [https://web.archive.org/web/20070409151904/http://www.aokispizza.co.jp/page/04/03lovemayo.html mayonnaise pizza] in her honor. Mayonnaise sauce is her favourite sauce.<ref name=singtao />
==Music career== Sone appeared in two karaoke television programs in late 2006. On one show, she ate sushi quickly during an instrumental section of her song. On April 24, 2007, it was announced that Sone would form a singing group directed by Tsunku named Gyaruru with Nozomi Tsuji and Ami Tokito. On May 14, 2007, after Tsuji's resignation from the band, Asami Abe joined in her place. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070620204053/http://www.tnx.cc/release/gal/20070620.htm Their first single], {{Nihongo|"Boom Boom Meccha Maccho!"|Boom Boom めっちゃマッチョ!|boom boom very macho!}}, was released on June 20, 2007 on Japanese independent label TN-mix through Pony Canyon. Sone's nickname in Gyaruru is Sonene.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://ameblo.jp/galsone-we Gal Sone's blog] *[https://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2007/02/72640 Wired.com profile by Lisa Katayama] *[http://www.friendster.com/sonegal gal's official friendster profile] *[http://eatfeats.com/category/women/natsuko-sone/ EatFeats (competitive eating) blog Natsuko "Gal" Sone category] *[http://www.sponichi.co.jp/osaka/ente/200605/07/ente192936.html Sponichi Annex profile] *[http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=qw1145862180253B215 article about Sone's victory in a Hokkaidō seafood eating contest]
{{Competitive eating}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sone, Gal}} Category:1985 births Category:Japanese competitive eaters Category:Living people Category:People from Kyoto Prefecture Category:People from Maizuru Category:21st-century Japanese singers Category:21st-century Japanese women singers