Angry Japanese parents joined bewildered teachers and businesses 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.
Mr Abe's unprecedented move 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.
The government earlier this week urged that big gatherings and sports events be scrapped or curtailed for two weeks to contain the virus but pledged the 2020 Summer Olympics would go ahead in Tokyo.
Infections in Japan have topped 200 today, with four deaths, excluding more than 700 cases and four more deaths on the quarantined cruise liner Diamond Princess docked in the port of Yokohama.
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Mr Abe's move, which was issued as a formal request rather than an order, drew scathing criticism, with health officials left scratching their heads and analysts said the plan was politically motivated and made little sense.
The prime minister is expected to comment on the plan in a news conference tomorrow, media said.
In the northern Hokkaido prefecture, which has seen the largest number of coronavirus cases in Japan, the governor had already announced a closure of all schools until 4 March.
That left one hospital closing doors to patients without reservations today because about a fifth of its nurses were unable to work while their children were out of school.
"We don't know how this could be extended further," said an official at the facility, JA Hokkaido Koseiren Obihiro Kosei Hospital.
As the coronavirus spreads, more companies like Mitsubishi Corp have said they would allow workers to telecommute.
But a survey in the Nikkei business daily published today, conducted before Mr Abe's announcement, showed only half of major firms were telling all or some employees to work at home.
As the government faced questions on how businesses would cope with a March shutdown of schools, Toyota and Honda said they were still discussing how their factories would deal with school closures.
Hitachi Ltd said it would let workers with children in school - or about 10,000 employees - work at home in March, while Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea will be closed from Saturday through 15 March.
"We will continue to urge public services and private companies to make it easier for people to take time off," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference, without disclosing further details.
Finance Minister Taro Aso said financial support for families was under review.
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Mr Abe has come under fire for what critics say is a lack of leadership as the number of cases in Japan rose and a package of steps announced on Tuesday that was seen as insufficient.
Toshihito Kumagai, mayor of Chiba, east of Tokyo, took to Twitter to slam the school closures as disruptive, especially for parents who work at medical facilities, police and fire stations.
"Society may fall apart," he said in a post.
Mr Kumagai said the city would close schools tentatively for two weeks from early March, but keep them open for children whose parents cannot take leave from work.
The prime minister also caught flak in parliament and social media after revelations that an aide had held a buffet-style fund-raising party with about 200 attendees on 26 February, the same day Mr Abe asked for sports and cultural events to be scaled down.
Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University's Japan campus, said Mr Abe's move on schools was plainly political in the wake of surveys showing growing public dissatisfaction with the government's handling of the outbreak.
"Suddenly, he sees the political consequences of being seen as missing in action," Mr Kingston said, noting his support had fallen to around 36% in a weekend poll.
"It's still half measures - stay home, wash your hands, avoid other people. He's outsourcing responsibility to local governments and corporations," he added.
Experts also questioned the efficacy of the government's move on schools.
"This is one example of a nationwide plan that has a slim chance of succeeding because the extent the coronavirus has spread differs across regions," tweeted Kentaro Iwata, a professor specialising in infectious diseases at Kobe University Hospital.
He added that it "made no sense" to close schools outside of Hokkaido.
