It’s not always easy to remember the names of all the people you meet at a party. But not today at Tokyo where all 178 guests were named Hirokazu Tanaka who came together to break the record previously held by 164 guests named Martha Stewart.

From 3-year-old Hirokazu Tanaka to 80-year-old Hirokazu Tanaka and Hirokazu Tanaka from Hanoi, all wore the same T-shirt with their name on it and sat in a crowded room for 5 minutes, as required by Guinness rules. At that time, the official representative of the awards committee officially set a new record.

“I never expected we would break such a ridiculous record,” said Hirokazu Tanaka, 53, who organized the rally after years of trying and two failures.

To distinguish the 178 Hirokazu Tanaka from each other, each was given a nickname inspired by their hobby, profession, or favorite food. So there were Hirokazu Tanaka “sunglasses”, Hirokazu Tanaka “gum” and Hirokazu Tanaka “triathlon” and the founder.

March 164 Stuart

The world record for the “largest gathering of people with the same last name” was previously held by 164 Martha Stewarts on the set of a TV show in New York in 2005.

The venture that led to the current record began in 1994 when organizer Tanaka heard on the news about baseball prodigy Hirokazu Tanaka and felt “tremendous joy” at sharing a name he once considered common.

Twice attempts to break the record failed, especially in 2017, when only 87 of them were completed.

But hope was born when the Guinness Awards clarified that if the name is Hirokazu Tanaka, it doesn’t matter if it’s spelled differently in Japanese.

Hirokazu Tanaka’s 179th “mini van” was supposed to be there, but he died of Covid-19 last year, his father Suzuko Tanaka told AFP. “He was always ready for the events organized by this group,” he says, “today he would be very happy.”

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}