Your 2nd home in Tokyo ,Shinjuku

I really loved staying one and a half week at Yoko's and Aki's appartment. They were such nice people. Yoko was very attentionate and gave a lot of tips for travelling in Tokyo and Aki was very funny. We had a good time. Their breakfast was always delicious and the cats would also join :)
I also could practice a bit of my japanese :) Their place is 2 minutes walk from the bus stop and 5-7 minutes walk from the Honancho Station (Marunochi Line). I even had the chance to come back for one night before flying back to Germany! Mata kondo aimashio! Arigatoo gozaimashita!

Yoko and Aki are wonderful hosts, we felt very welcome from the moment of our arrival. We were very tired after a 20 hour journey. Yoko invited us to have noodles, miso soup and fruit which was a lovely gesture and much needed after so much airline food.
I can wholeheartedly recommend Yoko and Aki's Homestay, we didn't want to leave! My daughter and I had a spacious bedroom each which is such a luxury in Japan, If we had stayed in a hotel in Tokyo we would have spent a lot even on a shared room.
Breakfast was my favourite time of day as Aki served us a range of items including tasty yoghurts, great coffee, juice, iced tea, sweet buns filled with crème patisserie, egg and toast and luscious fruit; kiwi, melon, grapefruit. It was also nice to spent time with the cats Gin and Yuki and chat with Aki about everything from food, sport and his hometown. Aki also gave us some great tips on how to spend our last day; we visited Ueno Zoo, saw the new baby panda and visited Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, a great day out.
On our last day we had breakfast and a fascinating chat with Yoko. She gave us advice on how to get the most from our last morning in Japan before taking us directly to our taxi and speaking to the taxi driver on our behalf.
I hope we visit Japan again one day and we would definitely stay with Yoko and Aki. I would be happy for my daughter (15) to stay with them if she decides to travel to Japan with her friends in the near future. I would know she would be safe and looked after. Thank you Yoko and Aki x

Tl;dr at the bottom since it could be a long review.
I started by journey in Tokyo. Since this was the time I also started my Working Holiday I figured it would be really good to start doing this staying at a homestay family.
So why did I choose the family and what made it for me my best homestay experience I have ever had?
All the homestay families I visited during my short term stays in Japan felt a bit distanced. Previously I got placed into storeroom-like accomondations, never had the chance to talk to the family, etc. Not that I was bothered by it that much but that was the reason I wanted to try a new family instead of choosing one of the previous ones.
After arriving Yoko and Aki gave me a really warm welcome and we already started talking to each other. Yoko helped me to get my Sim card since I planned staying in Japan for a while and it would be necessary of course. After that I thought it would be again to be talkative too. Yoko is a very nice and friendly person and explains a lot of things if you ask her. Her english also is really good and easy to follow which is really important to know in my opinion if you don't know a single word in japanese but want to stay in a family to get used to japanese circumstances (which is the best thing you can do imho). But Aki clearly won this one. Since he's not that good in english and I'm a beginner in japanese language we were able to hold all our conversations in a mixture of both languages. Therefore Aki told me many things about Japan, japanese culture and many other things you should ask him yourself if you choose this to be your next homestay. Even with the language barrier we talked a long time to each other which I immensely appreciated! If I didn't know a word or something like this he never hesitated to explain around it to make this point clear.
Since it's also really important that you have easy access to vital city spots:
Their home is located very near to a 7/11 and a supermarket. It will be really easy to buy all the necessary things without having to take a long stroll. Furthermore you can find a ATM in the 7/11 to withdraw money from your credit card. Combinis are definitely not rare in Japan but sometimes I had to look out for an ATM so it is really assuring to have one nearby.
Additionally the train station to Shinjuku is within walking range. Since I was fine taking the bus (the fee is really cheap) I didn't need to walk at all since it is just at the opposite of the 7/11. At my previous homestay locations I had to take the train for a little while to get to the big locations which was sometimes really bothersome. Yoko's and Aki's home's location is really good. It's not that stressful like in the middle of Tokyo but you can travel to popular areas fast.
Ok, these are surely good points. But to be honest, why exactly staying there?
I have to admit that every person got his own preferences and aims why to choose a homestay. In my case I wanted to have a clean place where I could FEEL like I'm at home. My room was really cozy and I got my free time when I wanted to have. This is also one reason I liked it there, having private time.

Thank you not only for being kind and helpful, also thanks for helping me to get a smooth start into my year Working Holiday in Japan.

Tl;dr:
- Friendly/helpful/talkative
- convenient Shopping access
- 20 min by bus until Shinjuku
- clean and cozy rooms