Our first artist in residence (2005) was Hideo Furuta from Scotland, who had established himself as a renowned artist in the UK and had been commissioned to create numerous public sculptures since 1985. “Spinning Cubes” is Furuta’s only public work in Japan and epitomizes the aspiration for a forever ascending spirit. Local people including a stone mason, who contributed to creating the work were at the ceremony, without whose generous help the project wouldn’t have been possible.