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Aug 30, 2026
Steven Herman
Behind the White House Curtain
Summary
Steven Herman spent 1990-2006 in Japan, most of those years with Voice of America. He served as South East Asia Bureau Chief as well as North East Asia Bureau Chief for the Korean Peninsula & Japan. Over his 16 years living in Japan he covered the Kobe Earthquake as well as the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster, which he said was "covering three disasters at the same time.”
He also recounts his more recent days as a White House Foreign Correspondent, especially his time as a traveling pool reporter. You'll learn what it's like to fly on Air Force One, why he got banned (twice) from X by Elon Musk, that "Presidential M&M's" are a thing, and his best advice for those wanting to write a book about their experiences in a foreign country.
Finally, he gives a concise account of what happened to VOA in the Trump Administration, his role as a whistle-blower, and tells us why DOGE shut them down. Herman retired from VOA in mid 2025 and now teaches journalism. In this latter discussion, he reveals how he blew the biggest scoop ever in his journalism career.
Herman is currently the executive director of the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy & Innovation in the School of Journalism & New Media at the University of Mississippi.
Some of Herman's favorite books on Japan are:
- Notes in Japan, by Alfred Parsons (1896)
- No Surrender: My 30-year War the autobiography of Noda Hiro (1974, transl. Charles S. Terry)
- The Warrior's Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa (Princeton Univ. Press, 1991)
- You can find Steve Herman on social media at:
- Mastadon, Blue Sky, Threads, Substack, LinkedIn and Instagram
The Books on Asia Podcast is co-produced with Plum Rain Press.
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Books On Asia Podcast
Books on Asia is your guide to finding quality books on Japan and Asia. By offering thought-provoking content in the form of book excerpts, reviews, literary criticism, author interviews and a podcast, we hope to create an intelligent space for people to explore issues on Asia in-depth. We are a book recommendation site and we may make affiliate referral fees through the following online bookstores: Apple Books, Bookshop (U.S.) and Amazon. We recommend only books of the highest quality. We are a reader-based site, concerned with the wants and needs of those seeking to learn about Asia.
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