青幻舎 SEIGENSHA Art Publishing

Lime Works, which captures some thirty lime quarries and lime and concrete factories across Japan from 1986 to 1994, was initially published by Synergy Kikagaku in 1996. Over the thirty years since then, its evocative photographs have captivated readers including through two reissues, the first by Amus Arts Press in 2002 and the other by Seigensha in 2008. Now, the classic returns a third time thanks to the many fans who voted for it in a poll held—fittingly enough—to mark Seigensha’s thirtieth anniversary. As the collection that defined Naoya Hatakeyama’s early career, it’s a must-have for any photography lover.

Naoya Hatakeyama is a photographer, born 1958 in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture. Graduated from the University of Tsukuba, School of Art and Design, where he completed postgraduate studies in 1984, and has been based in Tokyo since. In 1997, he received the 22nd Kimura Ihei Memorial Photography Award for the photo book Lime Works in combination with the exhibition “Maquettes.” He also received the 42nd Mainichi Award of Art for “underground” in 2001, and exhibited works at the Japanese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in the same year. In 2012, the Japanese Pavilion at the Biennale’s 13th International Architecture Exhibition with Hatakeyama’s participation was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation. His works are included in the collection of the National Museums of Art in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka respectively, and of museums in major cities around the world including MoMA and TATE. Since 2011, when his family’s house was destroyed and relatives had fallen victim to the tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake, much of his work has been related to the topic of his hometown and the disaster. He won the Minister of Education Award for Fine Arts in 2012, and in 2015, received the Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Government of Japan. Hatakeyama has been a member of the Japan Art Academy since 2025, and is today a Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University of the Arts.