Hiroshi Nohara shoulders the burden as the Nohara family's primary provider. He works demanding hours as a section chief at Futaba Shoji, requiring significant overtime to cover expenses like their 32-year mortgage. His commitment occasionally pulls him into major assignments, such as relocating the family to Mexico to manage a company branch and harvest nectar from a new cactus species. Financially strained, Hiroshi surrenders his entire salary to his wife Misae, receiving only a modest personal allowance, which frequently ends up covering household costs or Misae's own spending. This constraint shapes his workdays, leading him to meticulously choose affordable lunches during breaks, navigating limited options within tight budgets and schedules, sometimes treating colleagues or venting about work frustrations.

At home, Hiroshi shares a loving, though occasionally imperfect, family life. He and his son Shinnosuke share a tendency to admire attractive women, prompting frequent, light-hearted scoldings from Misae; despite this, Hiroshi remains devoted to his wife. His parenting contrasts with Misae's stricter discipline, usually opting for calm talks with Shinnosuke, though he sometimes employs deceptive tactics like promising encounters with beautiful women to gain his son's cooperation. Hiroshi displays deep emotional attachment to his family, evident when he wept at the prospect of a month-long Osaka business trip and actively participated in family activities, including the forced move to Mexico and the subsequent fight against invasive killer cacti threatening their new community.

Hiroshi embodies the typical salaryman struggles: enduring long commutes, obligatory after-work drinking sessions where he often becomes intoxicated, and corporate pressures. He demonstrated personal sacrifice by quitting smoking as a favor to Misae during her pregnancy with their daughter Himawari. Born in Omagari, Akita, he maintains familial ties there, including an older brother and a niece. His character balances the everyday challenges of work, financial pressure, and family loyalty, punctuated by extraordinary events like confronting supernatural threats during the family's Mexican sojourn.