Former Morning Musume member Abe Natsumi (23) is on a forced leave of absence after being nabbed for copying other artists’ work. As a result of the two-month punishment, she has had to drop out of the Kohaku New Year’s Eve song special on NHK. Nacchi had been scheduled to appear as part of a trio with fellow Hello! project members Goto Maki (19) and Matsuura Aya (18). They will now go on without her. Revelations of plagiarism over the last few years, in a series of books and on a radio show, appeared on the Web at the end of November.