I live in a small city in Virginia. I always ride on street and have several times seen inexperienced cyclists almost get themselves run over by riding on sidewalks. For the last week I've been in Tokyo on business and cyclists on sidewalks are everywhere. There are also many cyclists who ride with traffic. I have seen some cyclist pedestrian conflicts but not nearly as many as you'd expect given the number of peds on the sidewalks. The crosswalks (at least in the Tamachi section of Tokyo) have a separate section painted with a bike icon. That tells me that cycling on sidewalks is legal and it reminds drivers to be alert for cyclists crossing side streets on the sidewalks. I still don't like cycling on the sidewalks. But it seems to work well here. Perhaps that's because cars, cyclists, and pedestrians all seem to be more alert for and more tolerant of the presence of others. As crowded as the streets are (especially during rush hour) I hear almost no horn blowing or engine gunning and see almost no impatient lane shifting. A real change from how things are back home.