Tokyo and Kyoto really are bicycle friendly towns, but not in the same way a New York cycling advocate would want it. In New York, riding a bike on the sidewalk will get you a ticket, and these days, it might even get your bike confiscated by the police. Here in Tokyo and Kyoto, riding on the sidewalk is encouraged. In fact, cyclists have their own crosswalk lanes here that lead right to their lane on the sidewalk. The bike lane on the sidewalk is typically on the side closest to the buildings. It's a narrow lane that takes up about a quarter of the sidewalk depending on the size of the block. The other 3 quarters of the sidewalk is for pedestrians.
Where in New York, cyclists and pedestrians often have an adversarial relationship, here in Japan they live and let live. The cyclists are skilled at maneuvering around people and they never seem annoyed at having to do so when people are walk into their lane (which often happens because many of the sidewalks are quite narrow). New Yorkers would never put up with bicycles on the sidewalk. It would be like Deniro in Taxi, with cries of "Hey, I'm walkin' here!" every five minutes. And bicycling advocates wouldn't want to share the sidewalk. They want to share the road. I haven't seen very many bikes in the road, only the hard core cyclists who look like their training for something or bike messengers ride in traffic.
Commuters are on the sidewalk. They've got their babies on the back or their briefcases in the basket out in front. They wear business suits, high-heeled shoes, jeans and skirts. No biker shorts and no jerseys.
