Fireworks, flags and stuffing your mouth?

New world record set at Nathan's annual July 4th hot dog eating contest

Kazutoyo Arai, of Saitama, Japan, eats a hot dog during the Nathan's 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest at New York's Coney Island

July 4, 2000
Web posted at: 4:15 p.m. EDT (2015 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- It was a year of records at Nathan's annual Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. Among them: Kazutoyo Arai of Japan set a new world record by eating an unprecedented 25-1/8 hot dogs.

The contest also saw the first woman to place in one of the top three spots.

Takako Akasaka, also of Japan, finished third by eating 23 hot dogs. Japanese native Milisao Fujita finished second by downing 24 hot dogs, marking the first time in contest history that all three top spots were won by Japanese citizens.

The 5-foot, 6-inch Arai weighed in at 100 pounds. He topped the previous record of 24.5 hot dogs set in 1997 by another native of Japan, Hirofumi Nakajima.

Nathan's contest has been held at the original Coney Island hot dog stand every Independence Day since 1916, the year Nathan Handwerker borrowed $320 from entertainers Eddie Cantor and Jimmy Durante to start the business.

The contest winner gets to wear the bejeweled Mustard Yellow International Belt until next year.

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