THE AKIYA · SERIES · 3:22Japan's empty houses, and what people left inside them.Watch the series introduction
A SCREEN WORLD FROM THE AKIYA BOOKSSome houses
Some houses
should stay
empty.
Want a psychological thriller that makes every house feel wrong? Start with Brandon Chin's standalone novels, then step into the screen world built from their places, people, and pressure.
1. Try the first chapters. 2. Choose your house. 3. Watch the available films.
AKIYA
FILES / 001A HOUSE IS NEVER JUST A HOUSE
01THE SERIES
THE SERIESOne house
One house
per story.
Looking for a thriller with a setting you can feel? The Akiya Files is the screen-facing world of Brandon Chin's standalone psychological thrillers. A family, a couple, a pilgrim, or a pair of creators walks into a house that has been waiting for them.
The books come first. Each one is a complete story. The plan is simple: try the opening, choose your house, then watch the available film treatment when you want to see the world move.
4 complete stories41 prefectures lived & travelled1 world of empty houses
02THE FILMS
THE FILMSWatch
Watch
the houses.
Watch the available films below. For the stories still in development, start with the book.
Not released yet
Not released yet
03SEASON ONE
SEASON ONEFour houses.
Four houses.
Four wrong turns.
Every story is standalone. Start anywhere. Leave carefully.
01
FUKUOKA
AKIYA / 01The house wasn't abandoned. It was escaped.
A family leaves Florida for a fresh start in rural Japan. The welcome is quiet. The history is not.
02
HOKKAIDO
AKIYA / 02The masks on the wall want a family.
A couple retreats to a remote farmhouse to repair their relationship. Snow makes the road out disappear.
03
NAGANO
AKIYA / 03The cameras are live. The doors are locked.
Two influencers film an abandoned hotel and invite an audience into a story that does not want witnesses.
04
TOKUSHIMA
AKIYA / 04The pilgrims are the network.
A man walks the 88 temples to outrun what he did on a Florida tarmac. The village is far too kind.
Ready to choose a house?See all four books
04ON THE GROUND
FIELD NOTE / 41 OF 47ON THE GROUNDI live in
I live in
the setting.
Brandon Chin is a novelist based in Itoshima, Japan. He has lived and travelled across 41 of Japan's 47 prefectures, looking past the familiar travel images and toward the homes and histories people leave behind.
The calendars are still on the walls. The shoes are still at the door. Nobody tells you why. That gap between an ordinary place and the story it refuses to explain is where The Akiya begins.
Written from Japan
Not from a distance.
Not from a distance.
05THE LOOK
THE LOOKEvery house has
Every house has
its own weather.
The same title card. Different pressure in every room.
01FUKUOKA
Hard flashlight beams. Night exteriors. A family trying to make a home out of a warning.
02HOKKAIDO
Long static takes. Snow-muted rooms. Two old masks and no easy way back down the mountain.
03NAGANO
Camcorder grain. Unlit rooms. A live audience watching the wrong door.
04TOKUSHIMA
Warm lamp light. Shallow close-ups. The soft hospitality of a place that has already decided.
06THE CRAFT
THE CRAFTWritten first,
Written first,
imagined second.
WORDS → ROOMS → PRESSURE
Every episode starts with a finished story. Characters, settings, and the rules of the house are locked before the visual language begins.
The result should feel less like a tour of Japan and more like a door opening onto a place that has been waiting. Specific. Human. A little too quiet.
Novel first Place specific Atmosphere led
07THE ROADMAP
THE ROADMAPLong form
Long form
series.
NOWFour novels ready to read.
Fukuoka, Hokkaido, Nagano, and Tokushima are open to readers now.
NEXTMore houses, more prefectures.
The Akiya is built to keep moving: one place, one pressure point, one story at a time.
ALWAYSThe ending stays in the book.
The screen world is an invitation into the house—not a replacement for the source.
WORK WITH MELet's open
Let's open
the next door.
Want to help bring a finished thriller world to the screen? Brandon brings the novels, places, and story system. If you work in sound, motion, editing, craft, or story, start a conversation.
I read every message myself.