George Morikawa (森川 常次 (stylized as ジョージ), Morikawa Jōji, born January 17, 1966) is a Japanese manga author known for the long-running series Hajime no Ippo. Born in Tokyo, Morikawa was inspired to become a manga artist upon reading Tetsuya Chiba's Harris no Kaze in elementary school.

He was previously an assistant to Shuichi Shigeno, while known mangaka Kentaro Miura and Kaori Saki were past assistants to him.

Hajime no Ippo, as of March 2022, has released 134 tankōbon volumes. It has been adapted into several anime series, the first of which began airing in 2000 and was produced by Madhouse studio. The first series contains 76 episodes, while the second series, which started in 2009, contains 26. The third series, named Hajime no Ippo: Rising, was produced in 2013 and contains 25 episodes.

Morikawa won the Kodansha Manga Award in 1991 for Hajime no Ippo.

He is also the owner of JB Sports Gym in Tokyo.

Works

• Silhouette Night (シルエットナイト) (1983)
• Kazuya Now (一矢NOW) (1986) (2 volumes)
• Signal Blue (シグナルブルー) (1986) (2 volumes)
• Hajime no Ippo (はじめの一歩) (1989–present, Kodansha) (137 volumes)^[1][2]
• I'll be Seeing You! (会いにいくよ, Ai ni Ikuyo) (2012) (1 volume)