Living in Hiroshima as a Foreigner (2026): Areas, Rent and Work

If you have just learned you are being posted to Hiroshima, or you are weighing it against other places before you commit, this guide is the orientation you actually need. Hiroshima is a mid-sized prefecture for foreign residents — 15th of Japan's 47 — but it has a very particular character: it is a place people come to work. Car plants, shipyards and steel mills shape who lives here far more than offices or universities do. Whether your city has already been decided by an employer, or you still get to choose, the practical questions are the same: where do people like me live, what does rent cost, who speaks my language, and where do I go when something goes wrong.

Hiroshima at a glance: how many foreign residents, and who they are

Japan passed 4,125,395 foreign residents at the end of 2025, the first time the national total has crossed four million. Hiroshima's share is 69,897 residents as of 30 June 2025, which places it 15th nationally, just behind Mie and Gifu and just ahead of Hokkaido. That figure has rebounded sharply from the pandemic: the prefecture's foreign population fell to 50,605 at the end of 2021 and recovered to 67,837 by the end of 2024, a rise of about a third in three years. Immigration publishes the detailed prefecture-by-status breakdown only up to mid-2025, so that is the reference date for the status and nationality figures below, while the national headline is more recent.

By nationality, Hiroshima is led by Vietnam, and the top of the list reflects its factories and shipyards rather than its universities:

Nationality	Residents	Share
Vietnam	16,110	23.0%
China	12,367	17.7%
Philippines	11,023	15.8%
Indonesia	6,789	9.7%
Korea	6,361	9.1%
Nepal	2,994	4.3%
Myanmar	2,378	3.4%
Brazil	2,299	3.3%

Source: Immigration Services Agency, residents by nationality for Hiroshima (as of 30 June 2025); shares are our calculation against the 69,897 total. The Filipino and Indonesian shares — both well above the national average — are the tell-tale sign of a manufacturing and shipbuilding economy, as the next section explains. Korea's 6,361, plus a further 615 registered under the historical "Chosen" designation, forms a long-settled community of about 6,976, of whom 5,731 hold Special Permanent Resident status — families whose roots in many cases predate 1945, concentrated in Hiroshima City.

By visa status the balance tips towards work. The two largest groups are Technical Intern trainees (16,044) and permanent residents (15,145), followed by Specified Skilled Workers (10,969), students (6,121) and Special Permanent Residents (5,731). Put the two fixed-term work visas together and they account for 27,013 people — 38.7% of every foreign resident in the prefecture, against a national average nearer 20%. That single figure is the key to Hiroshima: more of its foreign residents are here on a time-limited work visa than are here to stay for good.

Why Hiroshima is a "working" prefecture: cars, ships and steel

Hiroshima's foreign workforce is built around heavy industry. As of 31 October 2024 the prefecture counted 48,351 foreign workers, and where they work is unusually concentrated:

Industry	Foreign workers	Share
Manufacturing	21,435	44.3%
Wholesale & retail	6,212	12.8%
Construction	3,905	8.1%
Services (n.e.c.)	3,439	7.1%
Accommodation & food	2,655	5.5%
Medical & welfare	2,580	5.3%

Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare / Hiroshima Labour Bureau, foreign-employment report (as of 31 October 2024). Nearly half of all foreign workers — 44.3% — are in manufacturing, a far higher share than in Japan's service-heavy metros. The prefecture's economy runs on carmaker Mazda and its supplier network (its head office sits in Fuchu town, next to Hiroshima City), the shipyards of Kure, Onomichi, Mihara and Fukuyama, and JFE Steel's West Japan works at Fukuyama. The same report shows technical interns making up 38.8% of foreign workers here, versus 20.4% nationally, while higher-skilled office visas (Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services) are thin at 8.1% against 17.9% nationally. In plain terms, this is a prefecture that hires foreign hands for the factory floor.

One point is worth flagging because you will see two different numbers quoted, and both are correct. By the count of technical interns actually in employment (labour statistics, as of 31 October 2024), Hiroshima's 18,737 trainees rank 7th nationally. By the count of people holding the Technical Intern residence status (residence statistics, as of 30 June 2025), its 16,044 rank 11th. The two series count slightly different populations on different dates; either way, Hiroshima punches above its overall 15th-place size when it comes to trainees.

The work divides cleanly by nationality. Vietnamese workers (15,600, of whom 8,899 are technical interns) and Indonesians (5,740, including 3,354 interns) dominate manufacturing, Filipinos (8,356) lean towards shipbuilding and settled-resident work, and Nepalis (2,411, mostly on student part-time permits) fill restaurant and shop jobs. A new 育成就労 (ikusei shuro, Employment for Skilled Development) status is scheduled to begin in 2027 to replace Technical Intern Training; because the rules are changing, confirm your own situation with an official source. Our Hiroshima technical-intern guide and the Specified Skilled Worker guide go into the detail that matters if you are on one of these visas.

Where foreign residents live: the city, the university town and the shipyards

Foreign residents cluster in a handful of cities. These municipal counts come from the prefecture's own compilation of residence statistics as of 31 December 2024 — six months older than the headline above, and the most recent date for which a city-by-city split exists, so treat them as a separate series:

City	Foreign residents (31 Dec 2024)	Largest nationality
Hiroshima City (designated city)	23,525	Chinese (5,220)
Fukuyama	12,036	Vietnamese (3,627)
Higashihiroshima	9,785	Chinese (3,364)
Onomichi	4,269	Filipino (1,730)
Kure	4,047	Filipino (1,148)
Mihara	3,147	Filipino (974)

Source: Hiroshima Prefecture, foreign residents by municipality (31 December 2024, from MOJ residence statistics). Three patterns jump out. Hiroshima City, the prefectural capital and a designated major city of about 1,172,423 people (2025 census, preliminary), holds a third of the prefecture's foreign residents but is only about 2% foreign overall — a rough ratio, because the resident count is from December 2024 and the population from the October 2025 census — with its densest ward being central Naka at roughly 3.7%. The real outlier is Higashihiroshima: on its own resident-registry count it was 10,141 foreign out of 191,463 people, or 5.30% — the highest ratio of any major city in the prefecture (as of 31 October 2025), rising to 7.31% in its Saijo district, home to Hiroshima University — whose 1,919 international students (as of 1 May 2025) make it the prefecture's largest campus. That university pull is why Higashihiroshima's biggest nationality is Chinese, while the industrial parks around it draw trainees.

The coastal shipbuilding cities — Kure, Onomichi and Mihara — are each led by Filipino residents, reflecting the Filipino workforce in shipyards and marine-equipment plants; Kure also has a notable Brazilian community (482), part of a wider Japanese-Brazilian population in local factories. Fukuyama, the prefecture's second city on the Okayama border, is 2.65% foreign (11,999 residents, resident registry, 31 March 2025), led by Vietnamese manufacturing trainees with JFE Steel as its industrial anchor. If you are still comparing bases, our best-cities comparison and the best-prefectures ranking set Hiroshima against the rest of Japan, and our guide to living in Hyogo and Kobe covers the nearest big Kansai neighbour.

What you'll pay: rent across Hiroshima

Rent is one of Hiroshima's strongest selling points. Even the priciest central ward is far below Tokyo or Osaka, and the industrial cities are cheaper still. The table below uses SUUMO's market averages, converted to yen (the Japanese unit 万 = ¥10,000); figures as of 19 July 2026:

Area	One-room	1K / 1DK	2LDK-class (family)
Hiroshima City, Naka (central)	¥53,000	¥58,000	¥94,000
Hiroshima City, Nishi	¥39,000	¥44,000	¥70,000
Hiroshima City, Asaminami	¥35,000	¥43,000	¥72,000
Hiroshima City, Asakita	¥30,000	¥35,000	¥55,000
Fukuyama	¥37,000	¥46,000	¥59,000
Higashihiroshima	¥40,000	¥41,000	¥62,000
Kure	¥47,000	¥49,000	¥65,000
Onomichi	¥45,000	¥47,000	¥60,000
Mihara	¥42,000	¥43,000	¥49,000

Source: SUUMO rent averages for Hiroshima (as of 19 July 2026). The 2LDK-class column groups 2LDK, 3K and 3DK listings, so read it as a family-size band rather than one floor plan. For a single person, a one-room or 1K flat runs about ¥30,000–¥49,000 across the suburban Hiroshima City wards and the industrial cities, rising to ¥58,000 in central Naka — still well under a comparable flat in Osaka. Higashihiroshima's 1K average near ¥41,000 reflects its student-and-trainee market. For a family, a 2LDK-class home averages around ¥94,000 in central Hiroshima but as little as ¥49,000 in Mihara and ¥55,000 in the outer Asakita ward. A common local strategy is to trade a few train or car minutes for far more space in the suburbs or a neighbouring city. Before you sign a lease in an area you have only seen online, you can ask a local resident for a gut check on LO-PAL about what a neighbourhood is really like to live in.

The communities: Vietnamese, Chinese, Filipino and Korean Hiroshima

Vietnamese residents are the largest group at 16,110, spread across Hiroshima City (4,540), Fukuyama (3,627) and Higashihiroshima (1,943) and weighted heavily towards manufacturing and food-processing trainees. Chinese residents (12,367) split between the capital (5,220) and the university city of Higashihiroshima (3,364), mixing graduate students, researchers, engineers and long-settled families.

Filipino residents (11,023) are the signature community of the coast: they are the single largest nationality in Onomichi (1,730), Kure (1,148) and Mihara (974), drawn by the shipyards and marine industries. Indonesian residents (6,789) are a fast-growing group, concentrated in Fukuyama, Higashihiroshima and Mihara and again tied to manufacturing; their numbers create a real, if still under-served, demand for prayer space and halal food that we flag but cannot quantify from official statistics. Korean residents form Hiroshima's oldest community: combining Korean (6,361) and Chosen (615) registrations gives about 6,976 people, 5,731 of them Special Permanent Residents — multi-generational families concentrated in Hiroshima City, where Korean is the third-largest nationality.

Finally, Nepali residents (2,994) are the rising force among students. By the prefecture's own count, Nepal became the largest single nationality among Hiroshima's international students in May 2025, at 1,755 people or 29.7% of the total, most of them at Japanese-language schools and working part-time in restaurants. If a community matters to you — for groceries, worship, or simply people who speak your language — it is worth checking which city concentrates it before you decide where to live.

Where to get help: multilingual desks, immigration and healthcare

Hiroshima has a solid layer of multilingual support, run mainly through the prefecture's international centre.

Prefecture desk. The prefecture's multilingual consultation service for foreign residents is operated by the Hiroshima International Center (HIC), based at the Hiroshima Crystal Plaza in Naka ward, and gives specialist advice on residence status, social insurance, working conditions, law and human rights. It works in 12 languages — English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, Portuguese, Indonesian, Thai, Spanish, Nepali, Ukrainian and Russian — on Thursdays and Saturdays from 10:00 to 16:00, on a toll-free line, 0120-783-806. HIC's own front desk keeps longer weekday hours for general questions.

City desk. Hiroshima City and the four towns of Aki district jointly run a foreign-resident consultation desk in Peace Memorial Park in Naka ward, in six languages — Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Portuguese, English and Filipino — on weekdays from 9:00 to 16:00. Fukuyama, Kure and Mihara each run their own city desks as well.

Immigration. All residence procedures for the prefecture go through the Hiroshima Regional Immigration Bureau at 2-31 Kamihatchobori, Naka ward, Hiroshima City (082-221-4411), open 9:00 to 16:00 on weekdays. Unlike a prefecture served by a single branch office, this is a full regional bureau that oversees all five Chugoku prefectures; residents in the east of the prefecture can also use its Fukuyama branch office.

Healthcare and settling in. To find a clinic that works in your language, the health ministry's Medical Information Net and JNTO's medical guide both let you filter by area and language. But enrolling in health insurance comes first — our guide to National Health Insurance explains the system every resident must join. Families should note that both main cities subsidise children's medical costs: Fukuyama covers care up to the end of junior high with no income limit and a flat ¥500-a-day copay (since October 2023), while Hiroshima City covers hospital care to the end of junior high and, from January 2025, outpatient care to the same age (an income limit currently applies). Both cities also report zero children on daycare waiting lists — Hiroshima City as of 1 April 2025, with Fukuyama likewise at zero on the national Children and Families Agency tally.

Renting without getting rejected, and reading this guide by visa status

Renting in Japan has its rituals — a guarantor or guarantor company, key money and a deposit, and screening that some landlords still apply more strictly to foreign applicants. None of that is unique to Hiroshima, and the multilingual desks above can help you read a contract. Have your residence card, a Japanese bank account and, ideally, proof of income ready before you view. Our step-by-step rental contract guide explains guarantors and fees, the bank-account checklist covers the account you will need to pay rent, and the first-year settling checklist lists the setup tasks people leave too late. Once you can hold a simple conversation, the free classes in our Japanese-classes guide make every one of these steps easier.

How much of this guide is a genuine "choice" depends on your status. If you are here through an employer — as a technical intern trainee or a Specified Skilled Worker — you will usually live where your company or supervising organisation places you, often in employer-arranged dormitories near the plant or shipyard, so the sections on communities, healthcare and consultation matter more to you than the one on choosing a neighbourhood. Our Hiroshima technical-intern guide is written for you specifically, covering dorm life, wages, the right to change jobs and the shift to the new 育成就労 system in 2027. If instead you hold an Engineer/Specialist, spouse, dependent, student or permanent-resident status, you can choose freely, so use the rent and area tables above; and if you are thinking of changing status to stay on after a fixed-term visa, our status-change guide walks through the routes.

Wherever you land, the same advice holds: the official desks are your first stop for anything legal or bureaucratic, and a real conversation with someone who already lives there beats any amount of online research. If you are still choosing between prefectures, our pillar guide on where to live and cheapest-places guide put Hiroshima in national context. And on LO-PAL you can ask a Japanese resident of Hiroshima your specific question — about a ward, a landlord, a school or a commute — before you commit.

Frequently asked questions

How many foreign residents live in Hiroshima?

Hiroshima had 69,897 foreign residents as of 30 June 2025, 15th among Japan's 47 prefectures. The largest nationality is Vietnamese (16,110), followed by Chinese (12,367) and Filipino (11,023), and about 38.7% hold Technical Intern or Specified Skilled Worker status.

Which cities in Hiroshima have the most foreign residents?

Hiroshima City has the most, at 23,525 as of 31 December 2024, then Fukuyama (12,036) and Higashihiroshima (9,785). By share of population, Higashihiroshima is highest at 5.30% (resident registry, 31 October 2025), rising to 7.31% in its university district of Saijo. The shipbuilding cities of Kure, Onomichi and Mihara are each led by Filipino residents.

Is Hiroshima cheap to live in?

Yes, relative to Japan's biggest cities. A one-room or 1K flat averages about ¥30,000–¥49,000 across the suburban Hiroshima City wards and the industrial cities, and ¥58,000 in central Naka ward. A family-sized 2LDK-class home ranges from about ¥49,000 in Mihara to ¥94,000 in central Hiroshima (SUUMO, 19 July 2026).

Where can I get help in my own language in Hiroshima?

The prefecture's multilingual consultation desk, run by the Hiroshima International Center, works in 12 languages on Thursdays and Saturdays via a toll-free line, 0120-783-806. Hiroshima City runs a separate six-language desk in Peace Memorial Park on weekdays, and all residence procedures go through the Hiroshima Regional Immigration Bureau in Naka ward.

Why does Hiroshima have so many technical interns and Specified Skilled Workers?

Because its economy runs on heavy industry: manufacturing employs 44.3% of the prefecture's foreign workers (as of 31 October 2024) — carmaker Mazda and its suppliers, the shipyards of Kure, Onomichi, Mihara and Fukuyama, and JFE Steel at Fukuyama. By working headcount Hiroshima ranks 7th nationally for technical interns (labour statistics); by residence status it ranks 11th (residence statistics, 30 June 2025).