The concept of dedicated bicycle lanes is illogical. Either bicycles are vehicles and are legally entitled to share the road with cars, or they are not. In law enforcement I encountered drivers who cyclists hit on the roadway, and said that the cyclist should have been in a bike lane or on a bike path. A large percentage of drivers today still don’t believe, or don’t want to believe that cyclists have as much right to use the roads as they do.
Tokyo is a remarkably safe place to ride, despite the fact that it is much larger, and is far more densely populated than New York CIty. Tokyo has virtually no dedicated bike lanes or paths, but that doesn’t prevent some millions of daily bike commutes in the city.
Unlike New York, drivers in Tokyo are made aware of the right of cyclists to use the roadways (partially because pretty much everyone in Japan has ridden a bike on the road). And, unlike New York, if a car or truck hits a cyclist, the car or truck driver is legally at fault, even if the bicycle technically caused the collision. In New York the penalties resulting from collisions are minor, and insurance companies shield you from serious financial consequences. In Japan the penalties are severe, and rather than a mere citation and your insurance company paying for any damages, you face arrest and possible imprisonment for causing injury or death.