Wandering around West Shinjuku a couple of weeks ago I ran across a restaurant called Misano who claim to be the originator of the teppanyaki style of Japanese cooking. They claim they started it in 1945.

What's the Teppanyaki style? That's what you see when you go to Benihana. The chef with in front of the customer with a huge grill, twirling the utensils around. Before sushi became popular, Benihana was pretty much it for representation of Japanese food in America except that that style pretty much doesn't exist in Japan nor is it traditional. Sure there are a few teppanyaki places here and there but overall it's mostly a tourist thing.