It’s available all year round, as it’s a suburb of Tokyo, where locals live, work and shop. Tourists are simply observing the local scene. It will be cool at that time of year so dress appropriately, as there is a lot of outdoor walking!

There are two very good ryokan - traditional hotels/hostels - tatami rooms with futons. Both mainly cater for westerners. Sawanoya (I have written a review) is the most popular and there is Annex katsutaro Ryokan, slightly more up market. There is .hotel-livemax in nearby nippori and newly opened sakura-hotel but I haven't stayed at either, my guess is cheap and cheerful, Yanaka isn't really hotel territory, more local feel. Good luck

We also explored Yanaka on our own and we really enjoyed the area! The backstreet alleys of Yanaka are especially nice with beautiful old wooden buildings that survived the bombings during the war. We loved "Ueno Sakuragi Atari" which is a complex of old wooden houses converted to a microbrewery bar (fantastic craft beers!), a delicious bakery, etc. Tokyo Bike is also a great shop for bicycle lovers, which is in a tasteful old Japanese wooden building. Highly recommended!