This is a very personal issue, please forgive me first. Many of you know that I usually spell my name 'Yuuki', but in fact this is my preferred given name and not my official name, which is 'Yuki' on my passport at the present. The situation is that although there are clearly different names in Japanese, which are ゆうき（/júːki/）and ゆき（/júki/）, the both have to be spelt 'Yuki' under the current international spelling rule for Japanese names; successive vowels are not allowed to represent long sounds in Japanese names. The former is my name which sounds longer than the latter, and usually the former is unisex name but the latter is feminine. Therefore I usually prefer using 'Yuuki (longer sound)' to keep its sound closer to my original name to distinguish from 'Yuki (shorter sound)' and I recently found a special/exceptional rule to spell successive vowels that Japanese people can use if applying for it. However, a matter is that I was told by Japanese embassy in the UK that names on passports usually have to remain unchanged forever since the first issue and if I really would like to change it, I may wish to submit a petition to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. I am thus currently writing the document and collecting supporting materials to make them to consider the allowance for the change. Particularly, I will continue living on research so that I am really hoping to print 'Yuuki Shigemoto' on a masters dissertation and the degree certificate which will be a start of my academic life. If you could be so kind to spare a minute for me to sign on this petition, I would cordially appreciate you. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my message.

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