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178 Hirokazu Tanaka's in Tokyo
Photo: TOMOHIRO OSAKI / AFP
It worked on the third attempt: 53-year-old Hirokazu Tanaka managed to bring 177 other people named Hirokazu Tanaka together in a room, thereby setting a new world record.
Never before have so many people with the same first and last name met.
Previously, the record had been held by 164 Martha Stewarts since 2005.
Hirokazu Tanakas from a wide variety of backgrounds gathered for the record attempt, as reported by the Guardian, among others.
There was also a three-year-old toddler, an 80-year-old senior and a man who traveled all the way from Vietnam.
They all wore a t-shirt with their name on it.
After sitting quietly in a theater for five minutes, an official Guinness World Records judge declared the record attempt a success.
"Congratulations on your success," he congratulated, whereupon the theater erupted in cheers.
Each Hirokazu Tanaka was given a nickname
It was a dream come true for organizer Hirokazu Tanaka.
Ever since he came across a baseball player who shared his name on the news in 1994, he's been interested in other namesakes.
"I never thought we could break that funny record," he said, laughing.
To distinguish everyone present, each Hirokazu Tanaka was given a nickname inspired by a favorite food, hobby, or job.
These included "Sunglasses Tanaka," "Chewing Gum Tanaka," and "Triathlon Tanaka."
"It feels weird breaking a world record just because of my name," said "One-Pot Tanaka."
»I am very grateful to my parents«.
The Hirokazu Tanakas feel no rivalry with the Martha Stewarts
The 2020 world record attempt was originally scheduled to coincide with the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games but, like the Games, was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At the Hirokazu Tanakas' last attempt, in 2017, only 78 of them came together.
Previous record attempts have been complicated by the fact that the federation adhered to a strict criterion that all Hirokazu Tanakas had to use the same characters to write their names.
A glimmer of hope emerged, however, when Guinness clarified that as long as the name reads "Hirokazu Tanaka," it doesn't matter if the Japanese characters used to spell the name are slightly different.
"It's not like I have much of a rivalry with the Martha Stewarts," says Earring-Tanaka, a 46-year-old systems engineer.
"In fact, the Martha Stewarts pioneered this record... so I would consider them our soul mates, even though we never met."
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