Thanks for all your advice everyone.  I will pass along the info to my 
friend.  He's coming over here for a conference that is the week after 
Obon, so I don't think he will be able to reschedule.  I'll recommend 
that Tokyo is nice during Obon.

I just realized that I responded to a few of you individually.  I 
apologize since I meant to respond to this newsgroup.

John