Clavell tried to tie the novel to Noble House. S-G for instance stands for Struan-Gornt (presumably) and many familiar characters make appearances. But none were in big enough roles to make the story likable to me.
I wonder if Clavell was also fishing for more Finnish readers (he evidently visited the country multiple times) because one of the main characters and S-G's pilots is Erkki Jokkonen. He's quite the stereotypical Finnish man: likes drinking alcohol, has a knife, and has built a sauna at the helicopter base he's located. I didn't mind the stereotype but I did find it amusing they had to "translate" his name for the Finnish print.
Apparently in the original English novel Erkki's name is spelled 'Erikki Yokkonen'. I suppose Clavell wanted to communicate the proper pronunciation to his English readers with the last name. But 'Erikki' is just weird -- the proper spelling is either 'Erkki' or 'Eerikki'. Maybe Clavell meant Eerikki but didn't see the difference between one and two E's, like English speakers usually don't with Finnish double vowels. Or consonants. Clavell's linguistic skills had already been confirmed suspect in the previous novels though so I guess I wasn't that surprised about the name.
The one thing I learned from The Asian Saga is that you shouldn't trust on the honesty of Japanese and Chinese people too much. They're always playing their games of honor and looking to gain something. At least according to Clavell.
King Rat was easily the high point of The Asian Saga. ShÅgun and Tai-Pan are worth a read as well, I'd say.
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