Masaru is a wonderful host with a lovely place to stay. Prior to arriving in Japan, he was in touch with us to help us find the cheapest journey to him from the airport, which was very useful. Upon arriving at Tsurukawa station, he picked us up with his car and made us a curry to help us settle in that evening. While we were eating in the living room area, their adorable Pomeranian dog came up to us and greeted us too. Masaru's dog is probably the cutest dog I've ever seen. During the drive he explained the pedestrian directions to the station, which involved descending or climbing some very steep stairs, near his house which were a very good work out. The walk to the station only took about 7 minutes, a bit longer on the way back because of the steep climb, which was ideal for travelling every day. One thing to be mindful though is that the cost of travel is somewhat pricey - we stayed for a week and the cost of taking the train into and out of Tokyo everyday came to a total of about £60. I also suggest buying a Pasmo card at a ticket machine upon arrival, which is like a UK Oyster card, which saves a lot of time and can simply be topped up. Travel-wise the journey into Tokyo took us on average 40 minutes, which was good for the price but since Tokyo was our main area of exploration, it may have been better to stay in the centre, although the price was worth staying in Tsurukawa instead. Tsurukawa also has some nice spots for eating our like Ringer which Masaru recommended as his favourite ramen place, with very competitive prices! The room we stayed in was a Japanese traditional style room, with floor beds, which was very beautiful and interesting to experience. It came fully equipped with an air conditioner (a life-saver during our swelteringly hot summer trip) and adjustable-brightness lighting. The bathroom was shared with the other guests downstairs and had a toilet room with a cool high-tech toilet and a shower/sink room, with great lighting for doing your makeup in the morning. The shower was my favourite part about the bathroom because it was so powerful! It was so invigorating! The living room and kitchen area (upstairs) was homely and Masaru had lots of pictures on the walls with all of his guests. Masaru said we could use the fridge to store our ice cream and even filled up our bottle with mineral water rather than tap water whenever we needed it, which was really nice. What was amazing was Masaru going the extra mile to really help his guests out. Upon arrival we were presented with a booklet in which he outlined lots of different attractions to visit, how to get there, the price etc. which is incredibly thoughtful. We made use of the itinerary for a day trip in Tokyo to help plan...