Homestaying concern
 

Hi all. I've arranged to do a homestay while I'm in Tokyo for 2 months from July. I contacted this person through the homestayweb website.

It's probably silly but I wasn't actually sure which gender the person was so I googled their name and a site said that the name is male, even though the picture on their profile is of a woman.

There's nothing else particularly suspicious, they haven't given me their address yet just the general area, perhaps that's reasonable. Their relatives will meet me at the local station. Any thoughts?

What is the person's name (just the first name, not the family name is enough)?

Hi, MMM. Being helpful as usual! Thanks.
The name is toshinori. I know just 'toshi' can be a girl's name, but yeah.

I am pretty sure Toshinori is exclusively a man's name.

I see.. is it reasonable that a woman would be using that name? Like, her dad's address or something? I'm only going off the picture on their profile, since they haven't told me their gender specifically. :/ The websites I found when I googled the address suggested a man as well.

I remember one RaceQueen about 10 years ago was named Toko. She used that instead of her full name, Toshiko. Perhaps that's the female version of the name, with the ko part making it a girl's name, if there is such a thing in Japan.

Not sure what that's gotta do with this person's name. Thanks for your reply. :)

Perhaps it's nothing, but both begin with Toshi and that may be something. Maybe what is added at the end determines the gender? I'm just postulating here.

I don't know anything about that homestay site, so I have no idea if that could be her father's name or not. it would seem odd for a child to be inviting people to stay in her parents' home for homestays.

ending -ko is pretty exclusively for women, unless it is -hiko, which is part of a male name.

I have never heard of a woman with -nori ending in her first name.

Thanks for the ideas and info guys. I'll come up with some inoffensive way to ask about the person's name. I just wanna make sure I can trust them before I have to go next month.