Japan scrambles for workarounds after Abe urges March school shutdown to stem coronavirus

FILE PHOTO: An elementary school student and her mother walk toward her school in Tokyo, Japan, February 28, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato

TOKYO (Reuters) - Angry Japanese parents joined bewildered teachers and businesses on Friday in a rush to find new ways to live and work for a month after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's shock call for all schools to close in a bid to stop coronavirus spreading.

Abe's unprecedented move late on Thursday to ask local authorities to shut schools means students will be out of school from Monday at least until the new academic year starts in early April.