Guinness Record - 178 People, All Named Hirokazu Tanaka

Recently a new Guinness World Record was set in Tokyo. The record was for the "largest gather of people with the same first and last name." There were 178 people all named "Hirokazu Tanaka", breaking the previous record held by 164 Martha Stewarts. The Hirokazu Tanakas, all wearing identical T-shirts with their names packed into a theater for five minutes (Guinness rules), until the judge said, "Congratulations on your achievement!".  Everyone cheered. The people in the theater included a three year old, an 80 year old, and one person who flew in from Hanoi. 

This event was a dream come true for 53 year old Hirokazu Tanaka, who worked on it for years, including two failed attempts. He got the idea in 1994 when he read news about a baseball player with the same name.  He founded the "Hirokazu Tanaka campaign" and began searching for his namesakes. 

With everyone having the same name, each person was assigned an alias having to do with his hobby, job, or favorite food.  The originator of this campaign is known as Semi-Leader.  There are others known as Sunglasses, Chewing Gum, Triathlon, Earring, and Hot Pot. Twice the Tanakas failed to beat the Martha Stewarts, most recently in 2017 when only 87 gathered.  

I say Congratulations to all the Hirokazu Tanakas on the great achievement!  I wonder how many people are in the world with my exact same name? As my name is pretty common, there are probably many, but maybe not any in Japan.