Transport advise needed

Dear all, please advise on my itinerary below:-

30th Dec - Tokyo
31st Dec & 1st Jan - Kanazawa / S-Go
2nd to 7th Jan - Kyoto / Osaka

1) For the shinkansen from Tokyo to Kanazawa, what are the chances of getting a reserved class ticket upon my arrival on 30th Dec for 31st Dec ticket? Are there any way that I can purchase this ticket online? What other options are available?

2) For the Nohi bus schedule, pretty confused on reading the timetable - if I depart Kanazawa on the 9.05am bus arrived S-Go at 10.30 am. Depart S-Go for bus at 14.40, what time do I arrive back to Kanazawa or does these buses only proceed to Takayama? I don't intend to continue to Takayama and will just do half day to S-Go.

3) From Kanazawa to Kyoto, can I reserve this Ltd Express Thunderbird upon arrival at Narita or can only do this in Kanazawa? Again, what are the chances of no tickets for this day?

My concern is the non-availability of tickets for my travels to Kanazawa and Kyoto, especially as I would also have to book and probably pay for the hotels by this time. would the purchase of JR Pass any help in advance booking of the tickets?

I guess, my other option would be just doing a day trip to Nagano and leave for Kyoto from Tokyo on 2nd Jan but was really looking forward to explore Kanazawa and S-Go.
Any advise is very much appreciated. Thank you once again,

1)
Basially impossible.
If really bad weather(by heavy snow) coming will be seat cancel usual but not so many.
So just go JR Tokyo staion ASAP non-reserved seat cars waiting line.
Each cars about 100 seats with 2 doors so under 30-40 you can get the seat.

JR East online seat reservation Not covered until Kanazawa by Hokuriku Shinkansen.
http://www.eki-net.com/pc/jreast-shinkansen-reservation/English/wb/com...
After Joetsumyoko is not JR East.(managed by JR-West/different company)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokuriku_Shinkansen

Oh this is bad news then, looks like I'll just have to stay in Tokyo till 4th Jan when many will be back at work. Probably just do a day trip from Tokyo as and when there's tickets available, will there be snow in places like Nikko or Kamakura during this period?

1) You can reserve half of the shinkansen strip from Tokyo to Kanazawa online when you have you JR Pass exchange order: http://www.eki-net.com/pc/jreast-shinkansen-reservation/English/wb/com...
You can't reserve the train all the way to Kanazawa, though. Reservations can only be made one month in advance.
You can still get a seat on the train to Kanazawa in the non-reserved section if you arrive early at the station and line up before the train arrives. I wouldn't miss out on Kanazawa just because you're worried you might not get a seat!

3) You can reserve the Thunderbird seat when you arrive at Narita. Any JR office can book tickets for any (reservable) JR trains, provided you give them all the information (train name and number, departure station and time, arrival station and time).

Make sure you book your accommodation soon; Japan is experiencing a rise in tourism and you may find the hotels you want are starting to book out even now!

The trains in Japan are at least once an hour. With the JR Pass you can get reserved seats at no extra charge while the average Japanese user would not pay the extra for this.

It is likely to get a reserved seat. If not, there should be another train leaving within an hour. It just means spending an hour less/more in Tokyo/Kanazawa/Kyoto. So no worries there.

Additionally, Tokyo station is the starting station to Kanazawa and Kanazawa is the same for Kyoto. This means that you can just go 20 minutes earlier and queue for the non-reserved section. You have more than 80% chance of getting a seat. If you go 30 minutes before this gives you near 100% chance.

The non-reserved section will save you as long as you can allocate time to queue at the train station platform. With regard to reserved seats there is a chance that the seats may be partially taken. If travelling with a pal, you may not have neighbour seats. Just a FYI.

Also the earliest or latest trains are usually the least crowded as people do not wake that early or rather be getting to bed than be on a train.

As far as the Nohi bus line times, you should be looking at this page:

http://www.nouhibus.co.jp/english/shirakawago_kanazawa.html

The first pair of timetables are for the busses going from Takayama, stopping in Shirakawa-go, and then going on to Kanazawa. The afternoon busses going back to Shirakawa-go are at:

13:50 (arrives in Kanazawa at 15:05)
15:20 (arrives in Kanazawa at 16:45)
16:50 (arrives in Kanazawa at 17:50)
17:30 (arrives in Kanazawa at 18:45)

The bottom pair of timetables are going the other direction.

The cost for a round trip ticket from Kanazawa to Shirakawa-go should be 3290 yen.

I hope this helps.

The trains in Japan are at least once an hour.

Be careful with such sweeping statements, you don't know everything. ;) (And no, neither do I.)

http://www.jreast-timetable.jp/1511/timetable/tt0562/0562020.html

The above advice on the Tokyo-Kanazawa shinkansen appears to be incorrect/misleading.

The Horuriku shinkansen Kagayaki requires reserved seats and there is not a non-reserved seat option. Also, you can (of course) reserve the seat all the way to Kanazawa.

Seats do sell out, even at non-peak times. I've seen my next train sell-out while standing in a queue (fortunately the delay was not too long). I am avoiding shinkansen travel either-side of New Year as I expect most local people to have booked their tickets long before I arrive.

For Kanazawa to Kyoto, you can reserve those seats at any ticket office. Again, because of New Year, might be full, but they do have non-reserved cars.

If you don't mind using airplane, you can reserve ANA's Experience Japan fare ticket online.

https://goo.gl/sbhtPf

At this time there are several flights available at 92.04 USD. From Komatsu airport, you can take airport shuttle bus to JR Kanazawa station, 40 min 1130 yen.