I lived in sendai for 3 years, and I have lived in Seoul currently for 5 years. Sendai Station has a giant underground bicycle parking, the likes of which I've never seen in Korea.

There are cars in Japan, of course. Families own one because it's convenient, of course. Also there are more cars in Japan than Korea, mostly because more people can afford it. But I'm quite sure that, at comparable income levels, Koreans own more cars per capita.

Korea has a very car-centric infrastructure, and people own massive cars, and drive recklessly, because the roads allow you to and people are used to it. Children are taught to never cross the road if they see a car, no matter if they have the right to cross or not.

I'm not saying Japan is a car-free country, of course. But car culture and car safety is a lot more reasonable.

Totally agreed for sendai.