On the general Japanese history stuff, George Sansom's three volume book is good and pretty readable; he also did a book on the cultural history that's not bad. Ivan Morris' 'The World of the Shining Prince' is an account of the Heian period, the time of slightly fey courtiers obsessed with ritual before things fall apart and samurais start; his 'The Nobility of Failure' tries to cover the cultural context of Mishima Yukio's obsession with defeat and death.