Aichaku
| Aichaku | |
|---|---|
 Release poster | |
| Directed by | Raito Nishizaka Michael Williams |
| Screenplay by | Christopher McCombs |
| Produced by | Christopher McCombs Haku Inko |
| Starring | Christopher McCombs Christopher Nishizawa Emika Kamieda Koichi Sakaguchi Cynthia Cheston Naoya Gomoto Kaori Takeshita Yayoi Fujiwara |
| Music by | Ananda Jacobs Takahiro Nomiya |
Production company | Tokyo Cowboys |
| Distributed by | Amazon Prime Video |
Release date |
|
Running time | 118 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Languages | Japanese English |
Aichaku (Japanese: 愛着; lit.. "Affection") is a 2025 Japanese film directed by Raito Nishizaka and Michael Williams that premiered on Amazon Prime Video in April 2025. The film stars Christopher McCombs and Christopher Nishizawa as two men living in a remote area of Chiba, Japan who fall in love over the course of the three-day story.
Plot
[edit]American teacher Lucas works at a small, struggling English language school in the countryside of Chiba, Japan and is doing what it takes to make ends meet with his meager salary. In the same town, half-Japanese Ken has been working at his uncle's construction business since he was fifteen years old and is struggling to figure out what he wants with his life. Over the course of three days, Lucas and Ken meet and help each other realize how important it is to have people and places to attach yourself to.[1]
Cast
[edit]- Christopher McCombs as Lucas
- Christopher Nishizawa as Ken
- Emika Kamieda as Erika
- Koichi Sakaguchi as Nobu
- Cynthia Cheston as Cathy
- Naoya Gomoto as Ryosuke
- Kaori Takeshita as Yoshiko
- Yayoi Fujiwara as Marie
Production
[edit]Development
[edit]Production company Tokyo Cowboys was heading into its tenth year and wanted to make something special to commemorate the anniversary. After making several streaming shows, the production company decided to return to the movie format that they had begun with.[2]
Raito Nishizaka and Michael Williams had previously worked together on several of production company Tokyo Cowboy's projects including comedy series The Benza, Benza English, and the travel documentary show Getting Dirty in Japan. It was decided with Lucas being a foreigner and Ken being Japanese that it was important for Aichaku to have two directors with each director aligning with one of the character's perspectives.[3]
Screenplay writer Christopher McCombs partially based the story of Aichaku off of his personal experiences living in Japan for fifteen years. Though initially Aichaku began as a short film script, McCombs realized that they weren't going to be able to tell the kind of story that he wanted to in that format.[2] McCombs wrote the part of Ken specifically for Nishizawa.[4]
Casting began with video auditions followed by an in-person callback.[2] Callbacks were held for Aichaku in 2023 with Emika Kamieda and Yayoi Fujiwara in attendance.[5] Several returning cast members from Tokyo Cowboy's previous work included Haku Inko, Masahito Kawahata, and Kosuke Imai.
Filming
[edit]Rehearsals for Aichaku began in April 2023.
Filming for Aichaku took place during the summer months of 2023 and was shot entirely on location in Chiba, Japan and Ibaraki, Japan.[6][7] Several of the shooting locations were found while shooting the travel documentary series Getting Dirty in Japan the year before.[8] Both Chiba Prefecture Film Commission and Ibaraki Prefecture Film Commission supported production by providing shooting location support.[9]
Postproduction
[edit]A crowd funding campaign was hosted by Executive Producer Max Emerson to help raise funds to support Aichaku's postproduction via Kickstarter.[10] The campaign was successfully completed with over three hundred backers.
A test screening was held at Nakano Zero in Nakano-Ku of Tokyo, Japan on May 4, 2024, that was attended by the main cast as well as both directors.[11]
Postproduction was completed on Aichaku in October 2024.[12]
Release
[edit]Aichaku was released in April 2025 on Amazon Prime Video in Japan and Spain.[13] It was released on Amazon Prime Video France in May of the same year.[14]
Soundtrack
[edit]Aichaku features fourteen original songs all made in a 1950s style to accompany the older architecture of the shooting area as well as the worn aesthetic of the locations used in the film.[2] The soundtrack was released in part on May 20th, 2025 with a six track album entitled "Holding on to You (Songs from the Film Aichaku) by Ananda Jacobs as well as a two track EP release from Fossilize entitled "A Feeling I Get (Songs from the Film Aichaku)."[15]
"A Feeling I Get" charted in at number four on the Japanese iTunes soundtrack chart upon its release as an individual song, and "Holding on to You (Songs from the Film Aichaku)" peaked at number six as an album on the same chart.
An official lyric video was released via YouTube on May 16th, 2025, from Fossilize for "A Feeling I Get" that features footage from the film Aichaku.
| Track no. | Title | Writer and music composer | Performed by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | "Where to Begin" | Josh Quat | Josh Quat |
| 02. | "The Last Days" | Ananda Jacobs | Peter Lawrence Jacobs, Ananda Jacobs |
| 03. | "A Feeling I Get" | Takahiro Nomiya, Christopher McCombs | Fossilize |
| 04. | "Mary Lou" | First Day Lions | First Day Lions |
| 05. | "Dream Lover" | Klassix Jones | DJ L Spade, Klassix Jones |
| 06. | "Say the Word" | Andrew Kavanagh | Andrew Kavanagh |
| 07. | "Ano Koro No Koto" | Takahiro Nomiya | Fossilize |
| 08. | "Vibrations With You" | Ananda Jacobs | Peter Lawrence Jacobs |
| 09. | "Fantastic Coffee" | Akiko Nakamura | Akiko Nakamura |
| 10. | "Bonsai" | Marin Ishida, Carl-Isaak Krulewitch | Marin Ishida |
| 11. | "Starry Sky"" | Ananda Jacobs, Takeya Yoshimura | Takeya Yoshimura |
| 12. | "Tricky Lil Thang" | Klassix Jones | DJ L Spade, Klassix Jones |
| 13. | "Holding On to You" | Ananda Jacobs | Ananda Jacobs |
| 14. | "Message to You" | Ananda Jacobs, Takeya Yoshimura | Ananda Jacobs |
| 15. | "Till the End of Time" | Ananda Jacobs | Ananda Jacobs |
References
[edit]- ^ "Aichaku | Tokyo Cowboys".
- ^ a b c d "5 Questions with Christopher McCombs". hamishdownie.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
- ^ "【試写会レポ】日本の片田舎で紡がれる愛しいラブ...長編ゲイ映画『Aichaku 愛着』".
- ^ "Japanese BL 'Aichaku' to Hold Special Screening with Fans on May 4 - BLTai". 杰德BLTai. 29 April 2024.
- ^ "元NMB48で女優の上枝恵美加が、国際色豊かな映画「愛着（Aichaku）」とWeb番組「ゲッティング・ダーティ・イン・ジャパン」シーズン2に同時出演！".
- ^ https://x.com/BLUPDATE2022/status/1784080949774557604
- ^ "Amazonプライムビデオ「Aichaku～愛着～」の撮影で大子町立滝倉集会所が使用されました | 大子町公式ホームページ".
- ^ "映画「Aichaku」（愛着） – いばらきフィルムコミッション".
- ^ "映画「Aichaku」（愛着）|支援作品紹介 |千葉県フィルムコミッション".
- ^ "Max Emerson is Releasing a New Book & Queer Indie Film—Here's How to Help".
- ^ "Tokyo Cowboys to Hold Test Screening for "Aichaku" on 4th May". May 2024.
- ^ "元NMB48上枝恵美加、映画とWeb番組に同時出演！魅力全開の新作を楽しもう".
- ^ "上枝恵美加が多国籍映画とWeb番組で魅せる新たな才能".
- ^ "Aichaku".
- ^ "Ananda Jacobs、「Holding On To You (Music from the Film Aichaku)」を配信開始".