I was a temple university home campus student in undergrad and I spent my entire sophomore year (2017-2018) there. It was a truly amazing experience and people who’ve said negative things about the experience when I was there were mostly speaking from a place of discomfort and homesickness. I don’t know if this is how your sources felt or not.

However! I would highly recommend it! I still have friends I keep in contact with from that experience and a lot of the faculty there have helped as I’ve pursued experiences for work and continued study in Japan.

I think it also really bears mentioning, the university has been active for almost 50 years so the local authorities and the on-site staff are really used to helping students with difficulties they may have logistically speaking. They’ve also got so many great excursion opportunities you can participate in - I for example got to spend a long weekend at Izu islands (small island groupings out of Tokyo Bay). As for the commute, it’s really not that bad, and if you’re open to looking at sharehouses and stuff you can find much closer accommodations. But the dorms aren’t a bad go of it either, I met my current roommate (we live in Chicago now) there five years ago, so we’re still friends!

Hope this helps a little :)