100% recommend Keiko’s place!
We travelled as family of 6 (myself, husband, my parents, 2 kids aged 4 and 1) and stayed at Keiko’s place for 10 nights.
First and foremost what set Keiko’s place apart is Keiko herself. What a lovely and caring host! She is super quick with her replies during the whole booking process answering all our questions. On check-in she was waiting and ready for our early arrival (7am as we booked the previous night as well). During the entire stay Keiko checked in on us every few days to make sure we were ok (never intrusive), came to help us clear our trash and brought us treats like fruit and cakes/bread. We genuinely felt like we were staying with family! It was so nice to have a host that lived literally next door as any issues were quickly responded to. We had a power issue one morning which was promptly dealt with within 10min. Keiko even helped us hail a taxi one morning as we had trouble getting one 😂 and she also stored our luggage on check-out as our flight was at night.
The house itself was spacious enough for our family of 6. There was enough room for my little ones to move around. The house being a traditionally styled Japanese home, all the furniture were low (bed, sofa, dining table) which made it quite safe for our little 1 year old who loved to climb. However as there were no chairs in the house (dining table was on tatami for kneeling or sitting on the floor), my parents were a little tired from trying to get up off the floor or low sofa every day 😂 The bedrooms are upstairs (please note they are quite narrow and steep stairs), the tatami room could have easily accommodated 4 adults. Myself, husband and 2 kids shared 3 futons and it was very comfortable and blankets were warm enough for our autumn stay.
Location wise - fantastic! Right around the corner (3min walk) was subway station Minowa on the Hibiya line. Easy access for sightseeing in Ueno (two stops away and great station for changing to other lines), Asakusa (quick taxi ride or 20min walk), Ginza, Tsukiji and Akihabara all on the same line. Two stops in the other direction was Kita-Senju which had 2 large department stores attached to the station (convenient for a bad weathered day). Basically I could have just spent the whole trip exploring all the stops on this Hibiya line alone. There is a 7-11 around the corner, reasonable sized 24hr supermarket across the road and larger supermarkets and drugstores within 10min walk away. There are restaurants round the corner (we didn’t try) and many little restaurants dotted all around the area. This is a residential area so don’t expect lots of shopping and bustling activity which suited us very well. We had enough activity out and about everyday and needed the calm and quiet in the evening with the kids.
All in all, a wonderful stay with a fabulous host. Would definitely stay with Keiko again!