I spoke with Bob and I should be able to get the time off in March. I'm aiming to have something solid planned by the end of the month.

Aweseome!

Evan (and his girlfriend), while probably still unlikely, isn't completely out yet. And a couple other of my friends are thinking about showing up, too, now (I'd say the odds are about 50-50 there). If everybody made it, it could be one wacky birthday.

Also, what were you planning to do for accomodations? I'm probably going to grab a ビジネスホテル for the first couple of nights, but don't know what I'll do after that. If you wanted to split something or anything, let me know.

You can't really split a business hotel. I've tried before and they just wouldn't let us do it. The rooms are small and made for 1 person only. Other hotels might be different but I'm not really sure if it's much cheaper to split a double.

Well, twin, actually (I don't feel the urge to share a bed), but that's what I meant. It's cheaper to get a twin room than two single rooms, at least by some (say, for the Toyoko Inn Asakusa, 4400円 per person, instead of 6400円 for a single room -- dunno if the same sorts of rates apply for cheaper hotels, i.e., the ones with communal facilities). Twin and double rates seem to be pretty much the same.

But that's about the extent of my knowledge on such subjects.