Namesake gathering in Tokyo smashes world record

Nice morning story. No war, famine, floods etc. maybe hope for humans after all. I googled and found 27 of me.

Hirokazu Tanakas from all walks of life came together in Shibuya Ward for the record attempt, including a three-year-old toddler, an 80-year-old and even one who flew in from Hanoi.

I wonder if they counted or considered the kanji variation as the same surname for Tanaka which is usually written like 田中 though there also exist 田仲, 他中, or 多菜加, to name a few.

The given name Hirokazu must have moe varieties.

"I never expected we would achieve such a ridiculous record," he said with a chuckle, adding that the Tanakas had "set an example of silliness".

All good fun, and now a record to commemorate it. Well done.

"it doesn't matter if the Japanese characters used to write the name are slightly different in each case."

It kind of does, actually, but whatever. A fun story.

Must have been tough when they had to PA Hirokazu Tanaka to move his illegally parked car.

wonder if they counted or considered the kanji variation 

it's right there in the article:

But a glimmer of hope emerged when Guinness clarified that as long as the name is "Hirokazu Tanaka", it doesn't matter if the Japanese characters used to write the name are slightly different in each case.

I bet Koreans can beat this. They only have 10 different last names there lol

Erik MoralesToday 10:28 am JST

I bet Koreans can beat this. They only have 10 different last names there lol

You may be correct. I mean, they have no less than six ladies with the name Lee Jeongeun on the Korean LPGA tour alone.

Silly record, but fun.

There is 1 other person in the world with my first and last name. We are 3rd cousins, as best we can tell. We have different middle names and have never lived anywhere near each other so all the normal identity confusion has never happened. Our grandparents are from the same village in Russia. Our first name isn't common in Russia (Don't think it is used) nor in the language our grandparents spoke there (which wasn't Russian).

How many 'John Smiths' are there in the English-speaking world? And 'Sanjay Guptas'? I know a lady Dr. Gupta at my local VA, her husband is a 'Sanjay' who works at the university where I got my degree. But he's not the Prof. 'Sanjay Gupta' who taught me a Computer Science class there. And there's a 'Sanjay Gupta' who is a commentator on CNN. Remember, India is a land of over one billion people. How many 'Sanjay Guptas' are in India itself?

China itself has over one billion people. How many 'same name' people are there?

There is 1 other person in the world with my first and last name. 

 I am 100% sure no one shares the same name as me. Both my first and last names are rare, and they come from two different European languages, Dutch and Gaelic Irish.

Enclosed unventilated arena in Japan and no one bothering with a mask. Hiros all of them!

Once again Japan demonstrating that this type of silly-funny news has a national headline, making Japan one of the safest countries in the world..

how many muhammeds or mohammeds etc would there be in those areas of the world where the name is common? imagine there would be loads in pakistan etc...