New world record created as 178 people with the same name congregate in Japan

The gathering was arranged by Hirokazu Tanaka, a corporate employee from Tokyo. The Mainichi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper, reported Tanaka, 53, first became interested in people who had the same name as his in 1994 after he saw baseball player Hirokazu Tanaka get into Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, a Japanese pro baseball team. Interestingly, the baseball player was also part of the record-breaking gathering.

This was the third attempt by the Hirokazu Tanakas to successfully create a record in their name. The youngest Hirokazu Tanaka at the gathering was a three-year-old, while the oldest participant was 80. One person travelled all the way from Hanoi to Vietnam to be a part of the event.

A video of the record-breaking moment in which the venue erupts into applause after the Guinness World Records adjudicator announces that they have created the new record is going viral. This video was shared online by the official Twitter account of Guinness World Records Japan Saturday and it has since then gathered over six lakh views.

速報です🌟東京都渋谷区に178人のタナカヒロカズさんが集まり、ギネス世界記録「同姓同名の最大の集まり」更新㊗達成直後のタナカヒロカズさんたちをご覧ください！本当におめでとうございます！！ pic.twitter.com/RWeSzXHHPz

— ギネス世界記録｜書籍『ギネス世界記録2022』OUT NOW (@GWRJapan) October 29, 2022

Commenting on it a Twitter user wrote, “One day I will do something similar but with people named Mohammed lmao or Jacob or Jack”. Another person wrote, “Love this record! What a great idea – so much effort gone into amassing so many Hirokazu Tanakas in one spot!”.