In November 2001, Abe retired from Disney on Ice and began working as a figure skating coach and choreographer in Sendai. Shizuka Arakawa and Yamato Tamura were some of her first students. In 2004, when she became Arakawa's assistant coach, Abe traveled to America and studied under Tatiana Tarasova and Evgeni Platov. She then began coaching Yuzuru Hanyu, who went on to win the 2010 World Junior Figure Skating Championships and a bronze medal at the 2012 World Figure Skating Championships.