Thank you all so very much for your invaluable tips and suggestions. We will move our Kyoto departing date and buy JR Suica pass once we arrive in Japan.

I am hesitant about opening another thread but we are seriously considering not going to Hakone for day trip after reading other threads in this forum (ie: summer - might not see Mt Fuji, raining season). We plan to go only go to the national park (guessing it will be like NYC's central park?). Perhaps Fall or Winter is a better season to go to Hakone since we might stay overnight to experience onsen.
My spouse thinks that day trip to Osaka is enough because we want to experience Tokyo and Kyoto as much as we can for our first trip.
Any thoughts on this?

Huge thanks again...