George Abe

Naoya Abe, known by his pen name George Abe, was a Japanese author and former yakuza. Outside Japan, he is best known for writing the manga series Rainbow: Nisha Rokubō no Shichinin in collaboration with artist Masasumi Kakizaki. As a teenager, Abe became a member of the Ando-gumi yakuza family, and was later recruited by the Koganei-ikka. In 1986, after leaving the yakuza life, he wrote a novel about his time in Fuchū Prison titled Hei no Naka no Korinai Menmen, which became a bestseller and was adapted into a film. Abe died on September 2, 2019, from pneumonia, aged 82.
Abe worked as a flight attendant for Japan Airlines from 1961 to 1965. He was the model for Jōji Miyagi, the main character in Yukio Mishima's entertainment romance novel Fukuzatsuna Kare published in 1966. Abe's pen name "Jōji" was adapted from the character in the novel.