Shirakawa-go winter light up

Hi.
We intend to see the light up in late Jan/early Feb next year.

- does anyone know the schedule for 2018 ?

- is the light up only for a short time in the evening (6-7.30pm) ?

- would you recommend us to stay a night in say Ogimachi village, or simply join a bus tour ?
Just wondering if it is worth spending a night there.
We would of course like to go to the Shiroyama observation deck.
Not sure if the bus tour will allow us this.

- if staying there a night, am simply concern if I can even secure a reservation as many sites seem to suggest that the rooms get booked up very early on.

- is there a direct bus from Tokyo to Ogimachi village, and if so does anyone have the timetable ?
A 2017 winter timetable is also OK.

FWIW, we are thinking of visiting Nagano and the Snow Monkey Peak during the same trip; so any suggestions on the itinerary would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

Too early.

Find past winters info first.