Hiroshima Prefecture Tops National Outflow for 4th Year Running. In Fukuyama—the City with the Highest Outflow—Students Nationwide Deliver 'Honest Truths' to Companies. University-Led Event 'Honne no Kaigi Vol.1' to Be Held July 11

Current university students are taking initiative to address regional hiring challenges.

General Incorporated Association Mirai-goto (Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture; Representative Director: Chizuru Tsunoda) will host 'Honne no Kaigi Vol.1,' an event planned and operated entirely by student members of the university career co-creation community 'S-colle.' The event will take place on Saturday, July 11, 2026, at 'Manabino-kan Rosecom' in Fukuyama City. Six current students from across Japan will candidly present their 'honest truths' about job hunting, work life, and working in regional areas. Participating companies will receive these insights as a catalyst to reevaluate their recruitment practices and public messaging.

Everything—planning, operations, and presentations—is led by students. This is a new initiative by job-seeking students themselves who want to 'speak honestly to companies' and 'change their communities.' The event is designed not as a space where 'companies choose students,' but as one where 'companies learn from students.'

■ Background: Youth Outflow in Fukuyama and the Problem of 'Simply Not Knowing'

In 2024, Hiroshima Prefecture recorded a net outflow of 10,711 people—the highest in Japan for the fourth consecutive year (by prefecture). Within the prefecture, Fukuyama City had the largest outflow at 2,935 people, the second-highest among all municipalities nationwide (the highest is Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo; source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 'Resident Basic Register Population Movement Report,' 2024 results). Particularly notable is the outflow of youth and women aged 15–29. This youth migration has become an unavoidable issue for both local businesses and young people.

Meanwhile, many companies in Hiroshima Prefecture have fewer than 20 employees. They don’t necessarily have dedicated HR staff, nor do they hire multiple people every year. Some report that simply 'posting on major job sites' or 'holding company information sessions' isn’t effectively reaching their target audience. This is a common recruitment challenge among regional SMEs.

Since 2014, Mirai-goto has been working in Fukuyama City to connect youth with the local community, engaging with approximately 3,000 young people in total. From this experience, they’ve come to believe that the issue isn’t that 'Fukuyama’s companies lack appeal,' but rather that companies and youth simply 'don’t understand each other’s needs.' Students can’t see the real conditions at local companies, and companies can’t see students’ true needs. As a result, matching rates remain low while recruitment costs continue to rise. To reexamine this structural issue common to regional revitalization and SME hiring, Mirai-goto conceived 'Honne no Kaigi.'

'Honne no Kaigi' is a space where companies listen to students’ honest opinions and use them as a starting point to reflect on their own recruitment and communication strategies.

Traditional job-hunting and recruitment activities have long been structured around companies evaluating and selecting students. This event temporarily sets aside that structure, positioning companies as listeners of students’ 'honest truths.' Students will share candid thoughts like 'I want to work this way,' 'I can’t work at a company like that,' or 'I met an adult like this,' but they won’t offer prescriptive advice like 'your company should do this.'

If consulting is a space that hands out 'prescriptions,' then Honne no Kaigi is a 'mirror.'

It’s about understanding how companies and work life appear through the eyes of youth. By knowing this, each company can reflect and gain insights on their own.

Rather than 'companies choosing students,' it’s about 'companies understanding how they are perceived by students.'

Perhaps what regional companies need before recruitment know-how is simply an opportunity to reevaluate themselves—this is the question that gave rise to the event.

Speakers

Ryo Shiraki

Sophomore, Kinki University | 'I want to continue contributing to “education” through careers beyond teaching.'

Shunya Kanamori

Third-year student, Faculty of Science, Mathematics Department, Kyushu University (on leave); Representative of S-colle | 'Why not job-hunt for yourself?'

Ayane Komiy

Fourth-year student, Faculty of Commerce, Fukuoka University | 'I want a job that lets me connect with many people in various places.'

Taisei Kudo

Third-year student, Fukuoka Medical & Health Sports College | 'Coming from Fukuoka to compete. “A living legend has arrived.”'

Tomoka Tsunoda

Fourth-year student, Faculty of Urban Life Studies, Tokyo City University | 'I want to keep challenging myself and refining the unique value only I possess.'

Fuka Murakami

Third-year student, Fukuyama University | 'I want to be someone who keeps growing.'

The six speakers aren’t all aiming to work in Fukuyama.

They include students from Fukuyama attending universities outside the prefecture (considering a U-turn), students who moved to Fukuyama for a one-year internship with no prior ties, a student who completed job hunting in Tokyo, and two students with no connection to Fukuyama joining from outside the prefecture. Their diverse backgrounds reflect the varied perspectives of Gen Z students who are still undecided or exploring multiple options—making this a space to hear authentic voices from multiple angles.

For speaker details, visit the following note page.

Example Topics Speakers Will Address on the Day

Based on their personal experiences, speakers will discuss topics such as:

- How and where did you evaluate and choose companies during job hunting?
- Conversely, which companies did you choose not to apply to, and why?
- What do students planning to job-hunt soon look for when choosing companies?
- What factors do they prioritize most, and what aspects of companies do they want to know?
- What does a 'regional company' look like from the perspective of a student from Fukuoka who moved to Fukuyama for one year with no prior connection, interning at a local company?
- What does a student who plans job-hunting events in Fukuoka value most?
- Why is it hard for students to envision working locally, even after graduating from a local university?
- Among students with many options, what makes a regional SME a 'chosen' employer?

This is not a space where students provide 'correct answers.' It’s a space where companies listen to student voices, engage in dialogue, and take the first step toward rethinking their hiring approach to become a company 'chosen by youth.'

About the Series: A Continuous, Six-Event Annual Program

'Honne no Kaigi Vol.1' is part of a year-long, six-event series organized by S-colle in Fukuyama City. The series includes 'Shigotalk' (hearing real stories from workers), 'Honne no Kaigi' (companies learning from students’ honest truths), and 'Pitch Match' (a formal matching event between companies and students on November 21, 2026), all held continuously throughout the year.

One-off events cannot reveal what a region truly needs. Rather than directly copying large-scale job-hunting methods or transplanting success stories from other regions, Fukuyama has its own unique culture and companies. How should their appeal be communicated to youth, and how should connections be built? It’s all trial and error, but in FY2026, we aim to conduct repeated hypothesis testing to uncover clues for a uniquely Fukuyama-style hiring model for the coming year.

Moreover, this isn’t just Fukuyama’s challenge—it’s a common issue among local governments nationwide. By shifting the 'arrow' of hiring from 'companies choosing' to 'companies being chosen,' we can create region-specific hiring models. This series aims to be the first step toward a scalable model that can expand beyond Fukuyama to other regions.