Beppu to the off-ramp from hell. We weren't even out on the road for 3 min before they stopped at 10:47am. We were on the road by 10:50 and didn't even feel the earthquake at 10:53. We found out minutes later that the expressway was closing and all cars were being forced to exit. He's a teacher at a school for handicapped kids and was excited that we were also teachers. The earthquake changed their plans too, and as we sat in off-ramp traffic they decided to throw in the towl and head home. Too bad, as they were pretty cool. We got out of their car at 11:48am to walk along the cars hoping for another ride.