airbnb accommodation question

Don't give up on your wish to rent an apartment to try to experience "Japanese living".
There are other options to airbnb.
Some companies have the authority to rent out short term.
Try Hundredstay in Shinjuku. The have a wide variety of studio - 2 bedroomed apartments, with kitchen and laundry facilities.

Tokyoapartments.jp Have apartments in different area of Tokyo, with weekly rentals. You have to forward a bond, but easily organised.

Housingjapan.com

VRBO.com

As well there are quite a few that do monthly rentals.
I have stayed at quite a few places, including renting two small apartments in Kyoto, for a week, and I have never had a problem, with either the owner, or company.
Currently I am arranging to rent a traditional house in Takayama for two nights later in the year. I found it on Booking.com.

Stick with it, the experience is far more genuine than going into some standard hotel room that could be in any country in the world.

Kersy,

You're right. I'm sticking with it. I'm still looking at the airbnb site but for the Ota area that someone had suggested. Some nice listings - seems quiet. Good thing is it's very close to Haneda. Bad thing is it'll take 45 mins to city center. I'll be checking out those rentals you mentioned.

When people say "it's a 10 minute walk to xyz station". Is that five street blocks away or 10 (or maybe more). When I look at the map between the listing and the station when they say this, I am looking at 15-20 streets away on the map. That doesn't look like "a 10 min walk" to me. :)

I would use Google Maps with the address, sometimes people will exaggerate how close something is. It's not unheard of.

Kamata is 20 minutes from Tokyo or Shinjuku Stations. Not 40 minutes.

You're right. Kamation station or Keikyu Kamata is roughly 20+ mins into city center Tokyo. Looking at the Ota area, I think it's pretty good location. It's kind of between Tokyo and Haneda. This appears to be a good option for us since we're flying into Haneda and it's not a bad train ride into Yokohama for a day trip
either. Again, appreciate all the good tips you guys are giving me!