If you move to either side of Houki church, you will immediately see its most unusual feature: two green, wooden verandas which provide a striking contrast to the church’s redbrick facade (visitors are often struck by the strength of this contrast). They have a gentle atmosphere. Their wooden arches are supported by thin posts and their ceilings are a mesh of little criss-crossing planks.

The church’s big windows and western-style veranda bring to mind some of the residences in Japan’s Meiji era foreign settlements. The windows have stained glass embedded into them, although they open and shut like doors and it is possible to step out onto the veranda from them. They are a very rare feature of the church. Inside the church, the columns are brick red in colour like the facade, and the ceiling boards are green like the veranda. Red, yellow and blue stained glass windows cause brightly coloured light to pour into the church, giving it a solemn atmosphere.