The emergence of complex pricing structures among funeral service providers in recent years has led to a rise in complaints from people who say they were made to sign contracts for more expensive plans than those advertised. Experts in Japan are urging consumers to examine funeral quotations carefully as the market adapts to the growing popularity of scaled-down ceremonies.
According to the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan, consumer affairs centres nationwide received 917 consultations regarding funeral services in fiscal 2025, compared with 632 in fiscal 2019. The number of consultations exceeded 900 for the first time in 2022 and has remained high since then.
Price-related concerns account for a significant proportion of the complaints. In fiscal 2025, 52.6% of the consultations involved complaints about high prices and fees, highlighting concerns among consumers over the final cost of funeral arrangements.
The changes in funeral practices have contributed to a more complicated pricing environment. Increasing numbers of people are choosing simpler services, including private memorial services attended only by close family members and relatives, one-day funerals in which the ceremony, final farewell and cremation take place on a single day, and direct funerals, in which the deceased is taken to the crematorium without a ceremony.
As funerals have become smaller in scale, providers have responded by offering more options. While this allows families to tailor services to their circumstances, experts say the additional choices can also result in extra charges and make it more difficult for consumers to understand the eventual cost.
One woman who lost her mother experienced the problem after visiting a funeral home whose online advertisement offered a family funeral for ¥500,000 ($3,100). She was subsequently told that the advertised plan was for a secular funeral and that a religious funeral would cost ¥1.4 million.
Further fees were added for expenses including hosting a meal for mourners. The woman eventually paid more than ¥2 million in total, substantially exceeding the price indicated in the advertisement.
Kyoichi Matsuse, a 59-year-old funeral consultant who provides consultation services to both funeral homes and their clients, said demand for affordable funerals with small attendances had been growing since the COVID-19 pandemic. The trend, he said, had contributed to a decline in prices per funeral.
“This is making some funeral homes take a hard sell approach,” Matsuse said.
He also pointed to differences in the way individual funeral service providers construct their prices. Some include items placed on altars in their basic plans, while others do not. Providers may also outsource services such as meals and the distribution of return gifts for funeral offerings, creating further variations in what is included in advertised packages.
These differences can make it difficult for bereaved families to establish the full cost before signing a contract. Matsuse said consumers needed to examine quotations carefully rather than relying solely on the headline price of a funeral plan.
“It is difficult for consumers to grasp the total costs,” he said. “When you receive price quotations, it is necessary to go over each of the items one by one so that you don’t miss any unchecked payments.”
The growing number of consultations indicates that the shift towards smaller and more affordable funerals has also created new challenges for consumers. With providers offering increasingly varied packages and additional services, experts say careful examination of every item in a quotation is essential to avoid unexpected payments at a difficult time for bereaved families.
