Going to LA

I will be in LA for six days next week, my primary goal is to get in as much Japanese food "research" as I can. I also want to shop for some kitchen tools, maybe a knife (JKI is on the list).

So, I need Japanese restaurant suggestions of all styles, and any good kitchen tool shops I should go to.
Thanks all.

Japanese restaurants in LA that I would recommend for a diverse sampling of foods would be the following:

Nozomi (Torrance - reasonable), Sushi Gen (Little Tokyo - moderate), Kiriko (West LA - expensive) for sushi
Horon (Torrance) for kushikatsu
Torimatsu (Gardena) for yakitori
Mottainai (Gardena), Ramen Jinya (Studio City), Yamadaya (Century City) for ramen
Otafuku (Gardena) for soba
Inaba (Torrance) for soba, tempura (Komatsu in Torrance is a dedicated tempura restuarant, that I found it to be good, but expensive)
Izakaya Kan Yuzen (Torrance) and Izakaya Ryo Zanpaku (Torrance) for Izakaya food

Marukai (Gardena - main store; I haven't been to the Little Tokyo, West LA locations) or Mitsuwa (Torrance; I haven't been to the West LA location) for kitchenwares.

Jon's store is really the only dedicated knife store with service in LA. Mutual Trading Co. in downtown sells knives, but they're all in cases and the personnel there aren't the most helpful.

Thanks for all of the suggestions, I will try to check out as many as I can.