Tokyo:
I still love Maisen. Many locations throughout Tokyo. The location in Chiyoda (at the Gransta metro complex) was my last visit there, and it remains superb. If they have the Tokyo-X hybrid pork, definitely try that (unaccessible outside Japan)…
Not ramen, but still divine-level noodles… Tsukemen Gonokami Seisakusho - Just outside Takashimaya at Shinjuku Station. Shrimp head broth. Yes, shrimp head broth. There’s nothing like it in L.A., if not the U.S…
Ramen Jiro has been emulated a lot by others, but do try the OG in its home temple at Ramen Jiro Mita Honten. Prepare to wait in queue with many Keio University students…
Futabazushi (Ginza) has a really neat storefront and really traditional (but not too expensive) sushi: Definitely fun for a first-time visitor to Tokyo. Sushi Kanesaka and Ebisu Endo are both middle-high-end places in their own rights as well. Hopefully your hotel concierge can also point you in the right direction…
Unagi: Actually Unagi Yondaime Kikukawa (at Haneda Airport Garden!) will definitely check off that old school unagi-don box. But for anago, there is Tamai…
Pizza: I like Trattoria Da Isa in Nakameguro, and PST, too. Underrated in my opinion, The Pizza Bar on 38th (at the Mandarin Oriental) is a less spontaneous pie endeavor (reservations highly recommended), but the pizza is fabulous… And the bonus advantage of eating here is that you can walk downstairs afterwards and bang bang with a musk melon dessert parfait at my favorite fruit parlour in Japan - Sembikiya!
@beefnoguy pointed me to Kiyoi (Shibuya), which excels at cuisine best characterized as high-execution homestyle (usually an oxymoron, except of course when it’s Japan lol)…
Teppanyaki - Keyakizaka in the Grand Hyatt Tokyo…
Kyoto:
Takehisa was a young restaurant when I first wrote about it, but these days it seems stronger than ever.
Osaka:
Visit Kuromon Ichiban Market
Binbiya Esakaten (izakaya)
Enjoy, enjoy!!!