Namesake congregation in Japan creates Guinness World Record 

Have you ever fancied creating a world record? Of course, you have! After all, who wouldn’t want the entire globe talking about them for achieving an extraordinary feat? It’s almost as if a universal thing that fascinates us all, especially when it secures a place in the prestigious book of Guinness World Records. Like every year, this year too has been the witness to several world records and recently another, rather curious one, got added to the list. 

It’s the Guinness World Record for the largest congregation of namesakes, that took place in the Japanese capital city, Tokyo, earlier this week. Okay, so here’s what happened. As many as 178 people by the name ‘Hirokazu Tanaka’ came together to meet in an auditorium in the Shibuya district and created the Guinness World Record for ‘the largest gathering of people with the same name.’  

What’s more interesting is that, this was a planned gathering to secure a world record and was arranged by a 53-year-old Tokyo-based corporate employee named ‘Hirokazu Tanaka’ (no surprises there!). Turns out, this man has been interested in people who had the exactly same name as his own ever since he came across a baseball player named Hirokazu Tanaka who was part of a Japanese pro baseball team called ‘Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes.’ In fact, the said baseball player was part of this record-shattering congregation. 

You would also be surprised to know that this was not the first, but third attempt by so many Hirokazu Tanakas to successfully create a record in their name. Individuals belonging to different ages and socioeconomic backgrounds was part of the event. The youngest Hirokazu Tanaka present was a three-year-old, while the oldest one was eighty. In fact, there was one person in particular who came all the way from Vietnam’s Hanoi to be a part of this special congregation.  

You may find it fascinating to note that Tanaka is a fairly common surname in Japan, but having the same first name too was rather unique.  

The moment Guinness World Records announced their record-breaking initiative, the crowd had erupted into an applause, the video of which has gone viral ever since, and so far, received more than six million views in the Guinness World Records’ official website. Such has been the response that people around the world have shown interest to do something similar. Many individuals named Jack and Mohammad have so far shown the maximum eagerness.  

Previously, the same record was held by 164 people named Martha Stewart who came together in the USA in 2005.