Japan Funeral and Cremation Service Market Research Report, 2029

The funeral service market in Japan caters to the needs of families and individuals seeking to honor their loved ones through various funeral and memorialization options. With an aging population and evolving cultural attitudes, the demand for personalized funeral experiences continues to grow in Japan. Funeral planning encompasses a range of services, including embalming, cremation, burial services, and family-owned funeral homes, as well as offerings from multinational corporations. Customized memorial services, such as direct cremation and traditional funeral industry offerings, provide solace and comfort to clients during difficult times. Eco-friendly burial options, including green burials, are increasingly popular, reflecting societal concerns for the environment. One of the major trends in Japanese end-of-life procedures in recent years has been a departure from standardized funerals that require multiple ceremonies over the course of a few days that are attended by a large number of people. Further, funeral rituals and ceremonies, including eulogies, prayers, hymns, burial ceremonies, and cremation ceremonies, offer closure and a sense of mourning and remembrance for family and friends. Non-traditional funerals cater to diverse cultural practices and individual preferences. In Japan, mortuaries and funeral parlors play a crucial role in the process, ensuring the proper care and handling of the deceased. Pre-arranging funeral services and pre-financing funeral services enable individuals to plan and pay for their own funeral arrangements in advance, providing peace of mind and financial security for their families. Increasing costs of raw materials is the major challenge that affects the market expansion. The funeral service market caters to the needs of families and individuals during the mourning process, providing a range of services including burial and cremation, embalming, and funeral planning. With an aging population and evolving cultural attitudes, there is a growing demand for personalized funeral experiences and eco-friendly burial options. According to the research report, "Japan Funeral and Cremation Services Market Research Report, 2029," published by Actual Market Research, the Japan funeral and cremation services market is anticipated to add to more than USD 900 Million by 2024–29. With funerals expected to increase as Japan’s population ages, the funeral industry is generally regarded as a growth industry. Thus, a steady stream of companies from different industries has been entering the market. In addition to funeral regulars and ceremony organizers, a string of hotels, railway companies and agricultural/consumer cooperatives have entered the market. Business methods have diversified, as exemplified by Epoch Japan, which is expanding its chain of franchises specializing in family funeral packages, and Urban Funes, which stages unique funerals intended to impress guests. Funeral prices are falling. Consumer awareness is shifting, and the industry is undergoing structural change, typified by more operators in the market, particularly new operators focusing on packaged services and transparent pricing in place of traditional pricing systems that were unclear. As a result of these trends, total sales are likely to level off or slightly decline. The industry is likely to undergo further restructuring, including streamlining and reorganization of operators. Japan's end-of-life industry is struggling to keep up with the high number of deaths amid the graying of society, but some companies are coming up with new products and services in response. Affordable options, green burials, and customized memorial services cater to diverse demographics and cultural backgrounds. Service categories include mortuary, funeral parlor, and memorialization options, with the industry continually evolving to provide solace and comfort to that in need.

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In the Japanese funeral and cremation service market, changing consumer preferences and social trends, followed by changes in regulation, are the drivers. Cremation services command the largest share in the Japanese funeral and cremation services market due to robust cultural and legal traditions in Japan. This segment dominated the market with a cremation rate of about 99 percent due to space constraints in urban areas and a cultural preference for cremation rather than burial. Other factors that further support the leading position of cremation services are cost-effectiveness and simplicity. Funeral Planning Services are having a blast with growth. This increase is due to heightened awareness of pre-planning options and increasing demand for more personalized and custom funeral services. With increasing interest in lessening the burden on loved ones, along with the need to ensure that one's personal preferences are followed, funeral planning services give customization and hence add to their market growth. Although necessary, this Transportation segment is comparably stable against growing and leading segments. It comprises the logistical aspects of moving the loved one from location to location, for example, from home to funeral home or crematorium. This steady nature of this segment reflects its foundational role in the whole funeral process but doesn't represent dynamic growth like other segments do. Body Preparation and Interment: Services related to the preparation of the body for cremation or burial, and interment itself, are included in this category. This forms a critical section that has less growth compared to leading and growing segments since it is more standardized and less affected by changes in consumer preferences. The "Others" category involves niche services and products that do not easily fit into any other category. Even though this category can include new or innovative services, or even those just emerging. The Immediate Need segment leads the market, for it provides services that are responsive in nature and urgent, right after a death has occurred. Such services attend to the immediate and unavoidable needs of a family unit often under emotional stress and needing fast arrangements. As such, with the great emphasis attached to adhering to traditional funeral customs, combined with the need for quick service delivery in Japan, the need for Immediate Need services is indispensable, hence their dominant position in the market. A high cremation rate, which requires quicker coordination and processing time, further underscores the need for Immediate Need services. The pre-planned category is growing rapidly, and growing consumer awareness and acceptance of pre-arranged alternatives are believed to be fueling this growth among Japanese consumers, who have quickly become aware of the advantages of pre-arranging their funerals. Pre-Planned services give people the ability to decide upon funeral arrangements ahead of time, lessening the burden of planning and execution on family members and loved ones, and ensuring that personal wishes are carried out to the letter. More importantly, this segment is driven by increasing ageing demographics that appear more inclined to plan ahead with respect to end-of-life matters, coupled with increasing personalization and management of one's own legacy. The offline segment is the frontrunner category within the distribution channel for funeral and cremation services in China because of its long existence and the cultural symbolism of in-person meetings at such emotion-laden moments. Many families seek direct engagement with funeral service providers to deal with immediacies and value the personal support and guidance extended with empathetic care by professionals in a loss-caused scenario. Traditional funeral homes and crematoriums have built their trust and credibility with time and have, therefore, been the preference of most families looking for total and honourable arrangements. Further, observing local etiquette and prevailing practice is of great importance to someone in Chinese society. The online distribution channel is growing very fast as changing consumer needs and technological developments redefine the market. Contributing to this growth, the high level of comfort the new age has with digital solutions has made online funeral services an increasingly opted-for option, allowing families to make and accept arrangements from the comfort of their home. These platforms also provide other services for the comparison of prices and service packages, online memorials, and services for preplanning purposes, hence becoming extremely easy and transparent to use. The trend has further been boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic, where most families are in search of safe alternatives to physical meetings. Consequently, this has seen funeral service providers increasingly invest in their online presence, to appeal to a larger audience, and provide more flexible service alternatives. This does not only accommodate changing consumer behaviors but reflects larger trends pretty fairly in other sectors.

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Kripa Shah

Senior Analyst

Considered in this report • Historic year: 2018 • Base year: 2023 • Estimated year: 2024 • Forecast year: 2029 Aspects covered in this report • Funereal Service market Research Report with its value and forecast along with its segments • Various drivers and challenges • On-going trends and developments • Top profiled companies • Strategic recommendation By Provider • The Funeral Director • Embalming Services • Mortician Services • Funeral Homes With Crematories • Visitation Or Viewing Services • Graveside Committal • Selling Funeral Supplies • Transporting The Deceased

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By Service • Cremation • Funeral Planning Services • Transportation • Body Preparation And Interment • Others By Application • Immediate need • Pre-Planned By Distribution Channel • Online • Offline The approach of the report: This report consists of a combined approach of primary and secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and list the companies that are present in it. The secondary research consists of third-party sources such as press releases, annual reports of companies, and government-generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources, primary research was conducted by conducting telephone interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducting trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. Post this; we have started making primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting them in regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us, we can start verifying the details obtained from secondary sources. Intended audience This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations, and organizations related to the Funereal Service industry, government bodies, and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing and presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.