Don't Be Greedy - A Computer Geek's Blog: July 21

What conclusion can one draw from this conversation?:

-Jin, owner of the hostel in Sapporo: "So, where are you going next?"
-Us: "To Rebun Island"
-Jin: "Hm. Are you staying at the Momoiwaso Youth Hostel?"
-Us: "Yes"
-Jin: "Ohhhhhh (O.O)! You're staying at the craziest youth hostel in Japan!"
-Us: "What do you mean by 'crazy'?"
-Jin: ":D You'll see..."

'¬¬ Right, we'll see...

We woke up early in the morning to catch the first train to Wakkanai. It was the only one that could get us there in time to catch the ferry. The farther we got to the north, the less buildings we could see. It was all just fields, farms and forests. The trip lasted five hours, so we had time to sleep a bit more AND enjoy the view.
When we arrived to Wakkanai, the frist thing we did was ask at the tourist information center for a map for Wakkanai and Rebun Island. In Japan, there are tourist information offices at almost every major train station, which is great if you're not quite sure about where you have to go. The woman at the office even called up the hostel to tell them we were coming. After exchanging some traveller cheques, we went to the only department store in the whole town to buy food for today and tomorrow. At the hostel they offer you dinner and breakfast, but it's way too expensive (for us). We bought two bento boxes, half of the onigiris they had at the store and some bakery for breakfast. Even though at firts the 2100 yen we had to pay seem like a lot, it's actually cheap, since it's for two people and two days. Then again, we had to pay 5000 yen each for the ferry tickets (with the return trip included).
The ferry trip was really amazing. We stayed on the observation deck for as long as we could watching Hokkaido as it faded at the horizon. There was a lot of wind, and it was freezing. Maybe it's not that cold, but we were already used to the heat in the south, and there already was a really radical change in the temperature between Osaka and Sapporo. Now, further north, it's even worse...
Unfortunately, even though Russia is usually visible from here, the bad weather made it impossible to see it.
By the way, the sea here is beautiful. It is extremely blue, at least compared to what I'm used to see at the Mediterranean Sea in Spain, and the waves really small.

So, there we were, at the ferry, about to arrive to Rebun Island, when we [thought we had] found out what Jin meant by "crazy":

[WARNING, THIS IS A SPOILER! IF YOU THINK YOU MIGHT COME HERE SOMETIME, READING THIS MIGHT RUIN THE GREAT SURPRISE. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!]
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We were looking at the port when we found something rather unusual. Near an old-fashioned green military-style truck, three people were energically swinging some flags with the tag "Momoiwaso" around, dancing and screaming "Momoiwaso!". The locals that were beside us looking through the window said something like "Oh, it's those youth hostel guys again!". That's the moment I though: "I don't want to be here right now..." :D. When we approached them, they greeted us extremely cheerfully. Unfortunately, they spoke in Japanese, so I couldn't understand much of what they were saying. After waiting for a while for the rest of the guests that came with the same ferry, they helped us get on the truck, and a woman started explaining some things such as the history of the truck (which apparently has a name) and several other things I didn't quite get. Fortunately there was a japanese tourist sitting beside me that translated the "important" things. Before starting the truck, we had to shout "hasha orai" all together. The first time, we didn't shout too much, so the driver turned off the motor again, in order to force us to scream. During the trip, the woman explained a bit about Rebun and the youth hostel. For some reason, at the hostel they have all clocks set half an hour earlier, so when it's 6, they show 6:30 and so on. When we arrived, the driver parked the tuck with it's rear directly in front of the door, so we could get off the truck directly into the main room. Pia and I had to go first, since we were new here. When she opened the door we had to yell "Tadaima" ("I'm home"), to which they answered with "Okaerinasai!", also yelling. They had several drums, which they used to make a lot of noise as some sort of welcome ceremony. I really don't know where they get their energy from, but I guess that's the best way to enjoy life in an island with only 3000 inhabitants. Another staff member, who somehow reminded me of "Great Teacher Onizuka", started explaining everithing about the hostel for about five minutes at an extremely fast pace. Of course, we didn't understand anything... Luckily, even though none of them spoke English, they had an english timetable and rule list. The one thing that stroke us most about the timetable was the wake-up time: 6:30 am. We tried to ask if they wake us up or if we had to set an alarm, and after several minutes thinking about every possible way of making them understand our question, one of them said. "Oh, wake up? Big voice! Aaaarghhhhh!" while putting his hands to his ears and looking as if he was going through a lot of pain... I'm scared...
Anyway, after leaving our stuff on our beds, we had the ramen we had bought for dinner. It was 7:00 pm, but the timetable said dinner was between 6:30 and 7:20, so we had to follow. Also, after the dinner, the timetable said "meeting: we discuss hiking routes around rebun and show you local songs and dances. It's fun!", and we definately wanted to see it. We didn't want to arrive late, since we were a bit afraid of how they would react to that. No, I don't mean they would punish us, but after seeing the show they pulled at the ferry terminal and when we arrived at the hostel, who knows what they would have done. We seriously didn't want a group of hiperactive japanese guys yelling at us and telling us to do anything weird...
The meeting itself was the weirdest think I've seen. Remember those completely crazy TV shows I talked about a few days ago? Well, this was worse, and we were in it. I didn't understand what they were saying, but they were yelling, doing weird cosplay, and all sorts of crazy things. After some time, they finally started explaining some facts about the island, such as the dimensions, the population, etc. Actually they always asked someone from the "public" to guess the numbers. Yeah, I wasn't kidding, you really have to imagine it as some sort of TV show. When someone said something wrong, they started screaming and looked as if the world was coming to an end. Did I mention it was crazy?
Later on, they pointed at the wallscrolls that hung all over the walls, and asked some guests which one they wanted, or at least that's what it looked like. On each scroll there was a song written. The ones that were chosen by the guests were the ones that we had to sing afterwards. It's not like we could sing with them, since it was all in Japanese, but it was nice to be there and see how everyone, including older guests, participated. They even took out a guitar and a harmonica and started playing while the othere sang. After three songs, they put the instruments away, and started putting their bags aside. A foreign guest then came to us and said "leave your bags over there. We're going to dance now, and they might get smashed if you leave them here". What!? Dance? We didn't have to wait for too long to know what she meant. The staff members started singing and "dancing" in front of us, and everyone followed. The dance consisted of jumping around, holding hands and running in a circle, etc. It looked more like some sort of show for little children, with the exception that there were almost no children there, but adults, some of them well above 60. I think this might actually be the weirdest thing I've ever done...
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[THE SPOILER ENDS HERE]

Even though this is completely insane, and I don't know if I would be able to keep this up for several days, I really, really recommend you to come here and check it out. I can assure you, it's a completely unique experience!

PS: Sorry for the delay, but we didn't have an internet connection in Rebun. Actually, today we don't have any internet connection at our hostel either. We're currently at a hotel near Wakkanai Station using their internet connetion, and I haven't written today's report yet, which means that I won't be able to upload it at all today. We'll see if we get an internet connection tomorrow, although I seriously doubt it: We're staying at a hostel in the middle of nowhere ("Kawayo Green Youth Hostel" near Mukaiyama Station). I'm not really sure if we will have a connection before the 28th...

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Rishiri Island, as seen from the train to Wakkanai