Like many of the other reviewers, I can say that this place is cheap!, but I would have probably been more comfortable at a capsule hotel than here in the middle of winter. The room was minimal as expected (no TV expect in the small common room; just a room with a nice futon, blanket and small pillow), but the place had no insulation. Like the windows barely covered me from the outdoors.

I did have a system to keep from being miserably cold.

1.) Get to room and turn on overhead heat (kicked on only after a few minutes).
2.) Grab towel and toiletries and go take a hot shower (the hot water was plentiful).
3.) Climb into futon and let the heat from the shower/my body heat up the bed.
4.) Stay there and wait until bedtime.

So, this place did make my stay in Japan a little uncomfortable. Even with me leaving extremely early in the morning and getting back around 8/9ish. The manager was super nice, and I never felt unsafe at all. The room was clean (old, but clean). I loved the area of the hotel, but it was cold. All of the common areas were cold, too. I debated with myself how badly I needed to go to the bathroom at night since it was pretty painful to get out of my semi-cold room into the freezing cold hallway. I guess people in Tokyo don't have to worry about frozen pipes? Granted, I had the room that didn't have tatami mats and the manager did mention that it was colder and offered me a different room where I would share with another person. But I can't imagine that tatami mats would have made that big of a difference since the walls themselves were seeping heat.

So, I would not stay here again. I would only recommend this place as an alternative to hostels when it's warm outside.

As an introduction to living in a Ryokan in a busy city - at a super price, this really can't be beaten. The manager is really friendly, the rooms clean and tidy and is being renovated in many areas that were previously wearing out. Don't expect The Ritz, but the atmosphere in the house is superb. These kind of places are essentially other peoples' houses that you happen to rent a room in for a night or two. If you behave respectfully to the place and the people you meet here you will have a super time. I did not expect much and was very pleasantly surprised. Yes, shoji screen walls are thin -but that's the point. I never saw any insects, and my bags were safe too. I loved this house - after the destruction wrought in this area in the 1940s, the fact this house was built in 1950 makes it an antique. Look after it and it will look after you. Home from home, indeed. I, for one, will be back.

All-in-all we got what we paid for at Taito Ryokan. It's not fancy, quite run-down and you can hear *everything* going on in the other rooms.
That being said, we were looking to spend a lot of time in Tokyo out-and-bout and weren't looking for luxury or a great place to relax. Our bags were safe -- we had no theft and everything was reasonably clean.
The host was reasonably friendly - even gave us some tickets to a local traditional dance performance.

I was so looking forward to this place, it looked so charming and atmospheric from their website. But it's a fairly typical attitude to old buildings in Japan, they never clean or maintain anything, they are squeezing the last yen out of it before they demolish it. The manager spoke English but sat in his office and never came out and treated you like a nuisance if you came in. Our room smelt of urine, everything was old and dirty but the WORST, probably the WORST thing I have ever seen in any accommodation at any price was a sign on the handbasin saying "Do not [--] in here". (They used the real word but Trip Advisor won't let me put it in) Maybe it was 'lost in translation' but how welcoming is that?