Arai-san is an excellent and warm host, and the room is very convenient with all the amenities I needed. Her home is in a very nice and quiet residential area, about a 15-minute walk from Yoyogi-Uehara station. The room was definitely small, but fine for me as a solo traveler. Arai-san offers a fresh set of towels after 3 days, which was really nice. She also is sweet and caring, as she checks in with you to see how you're doing with the room or if there's anything amiss. There was only one issue with noise-- unexpected construction (drilling, hammering, loud men's voices, paint smell) being done inside her home close to my room on one morning - all without notice. It was a sudden disturbance that woke me up and went on for at least a couple hours, so I couldn't get back to sleep. I wish she had told me in advance-- either when I booked the stay, or at least the day before. However, she she did apologize after it happened, which I did really appreciate. Other than that, the stay was generally really quiet and nice! I would stay with her again. Thank you so much for everything, Arai-san!
Notes:
- From Yoyogiuehara station with luggage: the walk to her place involves some uphill, so I recommend getting a car ride up
- Try to memorize how her home looks in the day time (car, gate), because the area looks different in the dark. Even with GPS, I had some trouble the first night back since I couldn't see the gate after midnight (porch light is on earlier I believe)
- The heater is amazing, but midway through the stay, it started taking about 5 minutes to start up - so just wait for it if that happens
- There are lots of nice restaurants in the area, so check them out! :)