On utility knife

Another thing that bothered me about Shibumi is sort of technical, but reveals the gaps in his research and thinking. Nicholas is continually described as a man of no country, and that's why the CIA could do whatever they wanted to him. His mother was a Russian refugee and his father a German officer, both in Shanghai, and during the war a Japanese benefactor sent him to Japan. However, although he is not ethnically Chinese, he was born in China and that makes him legally a citizen of Chinese. If there is some legal loophole at the time that excludes people not ethnically Chinese, Trevanian should have mentioned it. Given his friendship with Japan as well as his race, it would be plausible for the Chinese not to fight to help him, but that's not how Trevanian presents it. He writes so well of what he knows, but chooses not to know some things or just makes assumptions that aren't true, even with a utility knife.