Ms Vic--while I don't keep any Japanese white pines, I have a couple of western whites collected from the wild down in Arizona, plus several Mexican pinyon pines that look and grow very much like the white pines. Judging by the photos you posted (this is the first time I've seen this tree) you have a fairly young tree; probably around 10 to 15 yrs. tops. When they are this young, the needles do all sorts of things that don't look anything like what we see in Bonsai Today. Your tree is behaving quite normally for a teen-ager
You are keeping it healthy, that's the important thing. You may want to do a little needle thinning this fall (and yes, those are next year's buds) go ahead with your plan to pot it up if that's what you want to do--if this were my tree, I'd give it a year or two more in the pot it's in. If you're into white pine bonsai, why not get another one that is even older and get Mr. De Groot to help you along with it
