A former Dreghorn building has become big in Japan - more than three decades after closing its doors for the final time. The Perceton and Dreghorn Parish Church sanctuary was bought by Sun Life for £50,000 in 1996 following its closure in 1992 owing to falling numbers and it was re-assembled near Tokyo. And the church merged with Dreghorn Kirk to become Dreghorn and Springside Parish Church. And on Sunday, Sun Life Managing Director Keisuke Takeuchi completed a 9000-mile trip to Scotland to renew acquaintance with church members to mark 30 years since they first made contact. And he gave a donation to Dreghorn & Springside Church to help support their work as he attended the morning service. He is the Japanese chairman of Sun Life, which moved Perceton & Dreghorn Parish Church's sanctuary all the way from Dreghorn to Japan in 1996 and reassembled it near Tokyo. It is now a very popular venue for weddings, funerals, concerts and film sets. Mr Takeuchi was interviewed on Irvine Beat FM show Soul Sunday by United Irvine Church of Scotland minister, the Rev Neil Urquhart. He recalled: “My grandfather and mother started a wedding and funeral business and my father and I visited Dreghorn in 1996 and the church was closed. “In the year 2000 construction of the building was completed and we opened the church as a wedding hall. Japan has a lot of earthquakes so we needed stronger structures. “In 2000 I came back and visited Dreghorn and studied in Edinburgh in 2006 and 2007 and visited again. But a few people from the church I had met the previous time had sadly passed away.” Neil said: “I remember being amazed that you and your family were willing to take the closed church building brick-by-brick all the way to Japan.” He said: “It was a very hard project of course as construction was difficult, it was brick-by-brick. “We are using your church not only for weddings but also concerts and ceremonies including graduations. Most people in Japan associate golf and whisky with Scotland. A lot of Scots have come here over the years to help develop the country," he added. Neil said: "We enjoyed having Keisuke at the service and he had coffee afterwards. A few people were there who were members at Perceton and Dreghorn at the time met him and they are delighted to see the building still being used. A few people from the congregation have been out to to Japan to visit the church." A video of the song M by Ayumi Hamasaki, which shows the former Perceton and Dreghorn Church building in all its glory, complete with pipes and guitar has 30million views on YouTube. The sports fanatic also took in the Scotland v Greece international at Hampden Park on Sunday night although had to commiserate with the Tartan Army. The full interview will be on the Shoes Brothers Facebook page from Thursday at noon. Pix by Neil Urquhart. Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here