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As may be expected, this first face-to-face meeting with O’Sensei had a profound effect on Suenaka, who in the days to follow observed O’Sensei even more intently than before. For his part, O’Sensei obviously remembered his unexpected evening visitor. Several days after their initial meeting, Suenaka paid another, more formal, visit to O’Sensei at his bungalow, this time as part of a group which included his father, brothers, and others. During the visit, O’Sensei made a point of asking Suenaka if he planned to attend yet another luau in his honor, an upcoming weekend affair organized by Dr. Wakatake, an aikidoka and respected local physician (who was later president of the Hawaii Aikikai), and held at his country home in Punaluu, on the other side of Oahu. Naturally, Suenaka answered yes.

The luau was a grand affair, featuring professional musicians, dancers, and other entertainers, as well as an seemingly endless supply of food. Rather than travel back and forth from home to the party, Suenaka and others stayed on Wakatake’s estate. One night, after O’Sensei had gone to bed, several of the older aikidoka dared Suenaka to slip into O’Sensei’s room and leave a note on his nightstand without being detected. The note itself contained a message to the effect of “Gotcha!,” meaning someone had managed to sneak up on the preternaturally perceptive Founder without his knowledge. As Suenaka stealthily entered the room, he saw O’Sensei had his back turned to the door and was facing the wall, apparently asleep. Carefully, he lay the note on the nightstand and hastily made his exit. “The next day, after he got up,” recalls Suenaka, “O’Sensei handed me the paper and said, ‘You forgot this on my nightstand last night.’ Everybody laughed and thought it was funny; I was just dumbfounded.”