Review of Bicycle Sidewalk

A student and teacher in Japan (possibly with a background in cardiology), the American-born Nathan Miller has been documenting his daily travels, then sharing them in a video blog three or four times a week, since July of 2005.  His accounts give interested onlookers a clear view into the life of an expat living in Eastern Asia. 

Miller’s hundreds of posts are most easily viewed by categories, which include Interview, Education, Eat Me!, Kanji, Around Town, and more. With the exception of the videos set to music, most vids contain muted images with a small Miller in the corner narrating via green screen, recounting the experience as well as the stories behind the visuals.

He does seem to walk into some pretty cool situations, such as when he is invited to have a seat inside a promotional Ferrari. He’s also tested out a retrospective look at previous posts, which is helpful to new viewers who don’t have the time to sort through the previous videos. 

The rest of the site has a simple setup, providing a contact page, a list of links to similar sites, and a polite PayPal donation page (to help Nathan with web hosting).

Being a bit of a foodie, I enjoyed the food videos the most. I was particularly enthralled with Post #165, shot on Independence Day (which Nathan admits to nearly forgetting while abroad). In it, he shows a technique where a blowfish fin is set on fire in a glass of sake, apparently infusing the wine with some indescribable taste.