Sun Life Holdings
Sun Life Holdings is a privately held Japanese life-event services group, founded 1933, headquartered in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa. It provides funeral ceremonies, weddings, elderly care, Buddhist altar retail, cemetery management, and end-of-life identity-guarantee packages (Life Relief) to individual consumers across Kanagawa and Tokyo.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersHiratsuka, Japan
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Sun Life Holdings does
Sun Life Holdings (株式会社サン・ライフホールディング) is a privately held Japanese life-event services group headquartered in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, tracing its origins to November 1933. Operating through subsidiaries including Sun Life Co., Ltd. and Pet Ceremony Waybee (Niji no Hashi), the group delivers a diversified portfolio spanning the full human lifecycle: Hotel & Bridal (weddings and venue stays at Hotel Sunlife Garden and The Wings Ebina), Funeral and Ceremony Services (memorial halls, Buddhist altar retail via the Sakaeya sub-brand, embalming, and family-scale funeral halls), Elderly Care (visiting nursing and care facility introduction), a recurring Member System, and Cemetery Management. Distribution combines a dense physical retail and ceremony-hall footprint across Kanagawa and Tokyo, owned e-commerce (sakaeya-online.com and a Yahoo Shopping storefront), a mobile app, and YouTube-based instructional content. The customer base is individual Japanese consumers; pricing is quote-based for most services, with the Life Relief packaged offering publicly priced from ¥418,000 to ¥1,483,900.
The business model is predominantly transactional (one-time fees for ceremonies, altars, and packaged end-of-life services) supplemented by recurring subscription streams in nursing care, the member system, and cemetery management. Go-to-market is sales-led through physical touchpoints, augmented by seasonal promotional campaigns (spring altar sale, summer/year-end gift events), municipal-government outreach, and digital channels. The company is deepening its solo-elderly and end-of-life support proposition through formal municipal partnerships with Hiratsuka City (June 2025) and Ayase City (November 2025), and has executed an inorganic step into senior care via a November 2025 care-business acquisition alongside continued physical expansion (8th Hachioji family hall, February 2026). Technology assets are primarily operational and service-delivery in nature; the company's core "technology" is its human-service platform, ceremonial infrastructure, and 90 years of community trust in the Kanagawa/Tokyo market rather than software or AI.
Governance is structured around a family-led management team (CEO Hiai Takeshi, Chairman Takeuchi Keisuke) with multiple outside directors and audit committee members, consistent with a Japanese private-company holding structure that consolidates ceremony, care, retail, and cemetery operations under a single brand portfolio.
Sun Life Holdings firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Sun Life Holdings
- Legal name
- 株式会社 サン・ライフプロダクト
- Website
- https://sunlife-hd.jp
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Short description
- Sun Life Holdings is a privately held Japanese life-event services group, founded 1933, headquartered in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa. It provides funeral ceremonies, weddings, elderly care, Buddhist altar retail, cemetery management, and end-of-life identity-guarantee packages (Life Relief) to individual consumers across Kanagawa and Tokyo.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Sun Life Holdings industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Funeral and Life Event Services
- NAICS
- Funeral Homes and Funeral Services (812210), Cemeteries and Crematories (81222)
- SIC
- Hotels, Rooming Houses, Camps & Other Lodging Places (7000)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Places of Worship & Religious Facilities Operations (Cemeteries, Retreat Centers, Pilgrimage Sites) (BPAGAJAL)
Keywords
Where Sun Life Holdings is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Hiratsuka
- HQ country
- Japan
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices5 records
Markets served
Sun Life Holdings business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Funeral and Ceremony Services: Funeral ceremony services, memorial halls, Buddhist altar sales and installation, mortuary/care services including embalming
- Hotel and Bridal: Hotel services and wedding/bridal ceremony venues and services
- Nursing Care Services: Visiting nursing care and care facility introduction services
- Member System: Membership-based family and life support services with member fee structure
- Cemetery Management: Cemetery and gravesite management services
- Life Relief (ライフリリーフ): Comprehensive end-of-life support services combining identity guarantee, funeral arrangements, and posthumous administrative tasks as a packaged service offering
- Other Services: Photo studio services, pet funeral/ceremony, house cleaning, care facility introduction, floral arrangements for ceremonies
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Identity Guarantee Plan (身元保証プラン) |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Funeral and Burial Plan (お葬式埋葬プラン) |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Comprehensive Peace of Mind Plan (おまかせ安心プラン) |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Sun Life Holdings product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Sun Life Holdings is a life event support company that operates funeral and ceremony halls, wedding and bridal venues, elderly care services, cemetery management, and Buddhist altar retail stores across Kanagawa Prefecture and Tokyo. The group's core offerings revolve around coordinating ceremonies and end-of-life services for Japanese households, including a new Life Relief bundled identity-guarantee and post-mortem affairs service for solo elderly residents. It also runs the Sakaeya Buddhist Altar Shop retail brand with e-commerce distribution.
Product overview
Sun Life Holdings operates a diversified life event support business offering a portfolio of interconnected services: Hotel & Bridal, Funeral Services (式典), Elderly Care (介護), Member Systems, Cemetery Management, and Other Services (photography studio, pet funeral, embalming, house cleaning, care facility introduction). The core offering centers on providing comprehensive support across major life milestones from birth through end-of-life. Key sub-brands include Sakaeya Buddhist Altar Shop (retail) and Life Relief (ライフリリーフ) - a bundled identity guarantee and post-mortem services package launched in January 2025 targeting single elderly. The company also operates family funeral halls (ファミリーホール) across Tokyo and Kanagawa.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- ライフリリーフ: 身元保証と死後事務委任をパッケージ化した終活総合支援サービス
- にじのはし（株式会社ペットセレモニーウェイビー）
- サカエヤ仏壇店
- ホテルサンライフガーデン
- ザ・ウィングス海老名
Products and services
- Hotel & Bridal (ホテル・ブライダル事業)
- Funeral and Ceremony Services (式典事業)
- Elderly Care Services (介護事業)
- Member System (メンバーシステム事業)
- Cemetery Management (霊園管理事業)
- Other Services (その他事業)
- Sakaeya Buddhist Altar Shop (サカエヤ仏壇店)
- Life Relief (ライフリリーフ)
Companies that use Sun Life Holdings
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Sun Life Holdings technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Sun Life Holdings partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Ayase City (綾瀬市)coreAgreement signed November 2025 for end-of-life support services targeting Ayase City residents. Includes end-of-life seminars, information provision, rights protection awareness activities, staff training programs, and collaborative information exchange to help residents proactively engage in life planning.
- Hiratsuka City (平塚市)coreThree-party agreement signed June 2025 between Sun Life Holdings, Hiratsuka City, and Hiratsuka City Social Welfare Council for comprehensive end-of-life support services for single residents and citizens. Includes information dissemination, rights protection awareness activities, staff training exchanges, and collaborative community support initiatives.
- Hiratsuka City Social Welfare Council (社会福祉法人平塚市社会福祉協議会)corePartner in the three-party end-of-life support agreement with Sun Life Holdings and Hiratsuka City. Collaborative approach to support single and elderly residents with comprehensive life planning services.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves9 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Sun Life Holdings competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Dignity plc: UK-based funeral services company listed on London Stock Exchange. Broad incumbent comparable for funeral industry consolidation patterns, pricing models, and end-of-life service package structures used internationally.
- SOMPO Care: Major Japanese elderly care services provider under SOMPO Holdings, offering visiting nursing and care facility services. Comparable to Sun Life's elderly care segment with broader scale and national coverage.
- Service Corporation International: World's largest funeral services company with operations across North America and Europe. Broad incumbent demonstrating funeral industry consolidation patterns and providing benchmark for scaled funeral services operations.
Direct peers
- San Holdings: Japan's largest funeral services holding company with multi-vertical structure including funeral halls, wedding venues, and related life services. Most directly comparable holding company model in the Japanese funeral industry, though operating at significantly larger scale nationally.
- TIEE Corporation: Listed Japanese funeral hall operator with strong presence in Aichi/Kanto regions and direct overlap in small-format family funeral halls. Competes head-to-head in family funeral hall segment and shares similar operating model with regional concentration.
- Ceremor: Japanese funeral services company with ceremony hall operations and comprehensive end-of-life service offerings. Direct comparable in core funeral ceremony business with similar integrated service approach.
- Best Bridal: Major Japanese wedding venue operator with hotel and bridal service offerings. Directly comparable to Sun Life's Hotel & Bridal vertical with similar target customer segment and venue-based service delivery model.
- Take and Give Needs: Japanese wedding services company with venue operations and comprehensive bridal service offerings. Comparable to Sun Life's bridal business segment with similar house wedding venue format.
Regional players
- Kouekisha: Major Japanese funeral services company based in Kansai region with comparable funeral ceremony hall business model. Operates similar integrated services including ceremonies, cemetery management, and end-of-life support.
- Belco: Major Japanese funeral services company operating primarily in Kansai/West Japan region. Comparable funeral services business model and ceremony hall format, but serves different geographic territory from Sun Life's Kanagawa/Tokyo focus.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Sun Life Holdings social profiles
Digital presenceSun Life Holdings financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Sun Life Holdings leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
Sun Life Holdings subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries3 records
Sun Life Holdings funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Sun Life Holdings M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Sun Life Holdings
What does Sun Life Holdings do?
Sun Life Holdings is a life event support company that operates funeral and ceremony halls, wedding and bridal venues, elderly care services, cemetery management, and Buddhist altar retail stores across Kanagawa Prefecture and Tokyo. The group's core offerings revolve around coordinating ceremonies and end-of-life services for Japanese households, including a new Life Relief bundled identity-guarantee and post-mortem affairs service for solo elderly residents. It also runs the Sakaeya Buddhist Altar Shop retail brand with e-commerce distribution.
Is Sun Life Holdings a public or private company?
Sun Life Holdings is a private company. It is classified as family owned and is currently operating.
When was Sun Life Holdings founded?
Sun Life Holdings was founded in 2018. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is Sun Life Holdings based?
Sun Life Holdings is headquartered in Hiratsuka, Japan, in the Asia region.
How does Sun Life Holdings make money?
Seven revenue lines are on record. Funeral and Ceremony Services are the primary driver. The others are hotel and Bridal, nursing Care Services, member System, cemetery Management, life Relief (ライフリリーフ) and other Services.
Who are Sun Life Holdings's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Dignity plc, SOMPO Care and Service Corporation International. Direct peers are San Holdings, TIEE Corporation, Ceremor, Best Bridal and Take and Give Needs. Regional players are Kouekisha and Belco.
Does Sun Life Holdings have an API?
No public API is recorded for Sun Life Holdings.
What industry is Sun Life Holdings in?
Sun Life Holdings's product category is Funeral and Life Event Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAJAL, Places of Worship & Religious Facilities Operations (Cemeteries, Retreat Centers, Pilgrimage Sites). Its NAICS code is 812210 and its SIC code is 7000.