I'm going to Japan shortly, need to email homestay family!

[toilet]

こんにちは！

Basically I'm going on a school trip within the next week to Japan, and I will have to stay with two (2) different homestay families for a couple of days. I think we're expected to email our homestay sister/brother and I was wondering what I'm supposed to say.

Do I say はじめまして。ぼくは「なまえ」です。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。? Or do I wait until we actually meet?
Do you have any suggestions on what I could say besides introducing myself?

ありがとうございます！

[NileCat]

Do I say はじめまして。ぼくは「なまえ」です。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。? Or do I wait until we actually meet?

That seems very nice to me.
You can say the same thing again when you actually meet them.

おあいするのをたのしみにしています。
（お会いするのを楽しみにしています）
(I'm looking forward to seeing you)
is commonly used.

Enjoy your stay in Japan!

[two_heads_talking]

since you've never met the family, I think it might be more appropriate to use watakushi or watashi rather than boku. that's just my opinion though, perhaps one of our 'natives' will reply in the positive or negative to that fact.

[NileCat]

since you've never met the family, I think it might be more appropriate to use watakushi or watashi rather than boku. that's just my opinion though, perhaps one of our 'natives' will reply in the positive or negative to that fact.

It is an interesting question.
If I were one of the host-family members who got the e-mail from the op, I would think like this;
"Wow, this young student is great! He must be a nice guy since he wrote this polite mail with enough effort in JAPANESE!!"

But please note that you have to be a young boy. If you are over, say, 20 year old, you'd better to use Watashi.

Using watashi is more polite for sure. But "politeness" is not only a "style" but the "heart" in Japan. We prefer "warm Boku" to "cold Watashi". And because the op used only hiragana, I found it warm for some reason.

EDIT: I mean, the op's e-mail sounded to me like something totally opposite from a typical bussiness letter which is polite enough but sounds "cold". That's why.

[Snowflake]

NileCat and Two_Heads, thank you both for great answers to the OP's question. One of the nicest aspects of the TJP community is that we learn not only the proper mechanics of the language, but the soul of the language, as well.

I was particularly moved by this line: "...But "politeness" is not only a "style" but the "heart" in Japan. We prefer "warm Boku" to "cold Watashi"..."

Toilet, I hope you enjoy your stay in Japan! What a great opportunity for you! Please post back and let us know your impressions.