We felt welcomed as soon as we saw the comfortable entryway with slippers and umbrellas ready for our use. The house is lovely, comfortable and had plenty of space for the three of us.

There are two sleeping spaces up the (steep) stairs. I took the western-style room with the two single beds (so comfortable) and my 15-year-old took the Japanese-style room with tatami mats and enough room for 3 futons. Our third traveller found the steep stairs a bit intimidating and decided to sleep downstairs, so we moved one of the futons down to the living room for her to sleep down there.

I particularly liked our host Akane's original hand-made pottery, the beautiful polished floors, and the Japanese bathroom. Okay Japanese bathrooms are probably not that exciting to Japanese people, but to this Australian, it was a wonderful novelty to have the whole room as a shower room.

The hosts came by several times to collect the rubbish over the two weeks we were there (the local system for managing rubbish was a bit too complex for us foreigners to properly manage). There was an earthquake on our second day (nothing major), and our hosts sent us a text message to check we were okay -- very thoughtful!

Another small novelty was hanging my laundry out the second-floor window on the hanging poles and racks provided. I was a bit nervous about washing flying away but everything was fine of course.

The hosts have put helpful tips, photos and instructions around the house to help us with anything unfamiliar to us.

They also provided detailed instructions on how to get to the house from the nearest subway station, which was actually pretty simple. After walking from the subway in torrential rain on the first day, we quickly discovered the local bus (number 22) which goes to subway stations in both directions and runs so often that you don't need a timetable.

The neighborhood felt comfortable and everything we needed on a daily basis was nearby. Not a touristy area, so a bit of simple Japanese goes a long way. Or just learn how to say 'I don't understand' in Japanese and then nod and smile a lot -- it worked for us more often than I would have expected!

Most days we took the train to the more well-known areas, enjoyed our tourist adventures, and then appreciated coming back at the end of the day to a place that really felt like home.

Thank you Akane and Mitsu!