i've gotten a mixture of replies back from the email i sent out, right now i am checking into the possibility of reinserting a human into an AI slot so that we do not have to go back any turns.
edit: looking at using "saveconvert v4.2" to accomplish this.
You can do this with saveconvert - I have done it in another game.
Info on how to use saveconvert.
1) copy saveconvert.exe to a directory
2) copy the save you want to convert to that directory (I would suggest you use the save that someone sent you to play).
3) run saveconvert.exe (this is a dos based program so it will load in a little black box and have prompts that you need to respond to) - the rest is from memory so it might be wrong or off - prompts are pretty good
4) it asks for the name of the save to convert - type in name (I usually rename the save after step 2 above to something like a.civ4savegame (extension is not important) - you can just reply 'a' and it will cycle thru vanilla and then warlords extensions automatically looking for the save
5) after it has loaded the save it asks '# of civs' question - I just hit return
6) then you get a full on menu with all the things you can change - select the one that changes player (not sure of name)
7) it then lists the players ... country / leader and if AI or Human - swap Japan to Human
8) hit exit (or -1 or enter) until you exit the program - the last prompt asks for the output file name - this is the converted save - you can then rename it to something appropriate, play your turn and then send it on.