They say that records are made to be broken, but, apparently, they are also made to be demolished, abused, humiliated and crushed under the heel like a bug. That's exactly what a 23-year-old Japanese business student named Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi did yesterday at Coney Island by downing a new world record 50 hot dogs and buns in the annual 12-minute contest at Nathan's. That is not a typo. Kobayashi's 50 hot dogs and buns nearly doubled -- DOUBLED! -- a record that no one thought could be broken, Kazutoyo "The Rabbit" Arai's amazing 25 1/8 hot dog performance last year. The 131-pound Kobayashi surpassed that mark a mere five minutes into the contest. Arai downed a remarkable 31 this year, good enough only for second place. Afterwards, Kobayashi -- with more than 13 pounds of hot dogs and buns in his stomach -- basked in the cheers of the partisan Coney Island crowd. Unlike in year's past, amid the America vs. Japan fervor of recent contests, there were only cheers when the diminutive Japanese eater raised the bejeweled Mustard Yellow International Belt over his head. "We could only stand back and applaud," said Brooklyn postal worker Lenny Amoroso, who had been pulling for third-place finisher "Hungry" Charles Hardy. "I mean, this Kobayashi is the greatest athlete I've ever seen." To put Kobayashi's performance in perspective, THERE IS NO WAY TO PUT KOBAYASHI'S PERFORMANCE IN PERSPECTIVE. But I'll try: It would be like going to a baseball game two weeks into the season and watching Barry Bonds hit his 70th homerun. It would be like watching Tiger Woods shoot a hole-in-one on every hole in every round for six straight years. Remember when America landed a man on the moon on July 20, 1969? Well, what Kobayashi did yesterday would be the equivalent of the Japanese landing 100 men, an IMAX film crew and a huge catering truck on PLUTO on July 21, 1969. "I only speak seven languages, but there is no word I know that can describe this," said Richard Shea, a Nathan's spokesman and board member of the International Federation of Competitive Eating. But Shea doesn't speak Japanese. Kobayashi does, and even he couldn't explain it. "I don't know how I do it," he said through a translator. "I just know I can. I think someday I can eat 20 more." The man the Japanese call "The Prince" used a combination of speed and endurance that has eluded American competitors for five of the last six years. He even invented a new eating technique which has him snapping each hot dog in half, eating both halves simultaneously, and then devouring a moistened bun. Insiders call that "Solomoning" after the famed Hebrew king who offered to end a custody dispute by splitting a baby in two. At this point, the question is no longer, "Can America find an eater to challenge the Japanese?" The question now becomes, "Will Nathan's now permit other species of animals -- bears, wolves or even half-starved coyotes -- to challenge this eating phenom from Nagano, Japan?" Shea said it would never happen, holding onto a belief that somewhere among America's 270-million residents is a man or woman who can eat 51 hot dogs in 12 minutes. "He's out there, maybe in Montana or Milwaukee," Shea said. "We just have to find him." --30--