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JAPAN | Immersing in art realms at teamLab Planets in Tokyo

Kara Santos

After traversing through a maze room of a twinkling crystals, I was surrounded by hundreds of multi-colored koi fish swimming around as I waded through knee-deep high waters. Moments later, I gazed into a field of falling flowers on the ceiling, the petals seemingly swirling all around in the air. For a couple of hours, it felt like I was spirited away into a magical wonderland.

teamLab, Floating Flower Garden; Flowers and I are of the Same Root, the Garden and I are One. © teamLab

I’ve been to various local and international museums, but nothing comes close to the immersive experience that teamLab Planets in Tokyo has to offer. Chances are you’ve already seen photos and video clips of this unique museum on websites and social media feeds, but this digital art exhibit defies all expectations. 

Located in Toyosu, near the futuristic neighborhood of Odaiba, teamLab Planets offers a unique experience for local and foreign tourists traveling to Japan. The museum houses multi-sensory, full-body immersive art displays that combine touch, sight and sound in such a creative and experiential manner. In fact, the artwork at teamLab Planets changes with the presence of people, making visitors literally part of the art.

Aside from the digital projections, the museum incorporates natural elements, like flowing water, fresh flowers, real moss, and natural light and mist in the garden area, for a sensory overload.

Unlike typical museums where you just view art from behind the glass, teamLab Planets invites visitors to walk through cascading paths, dive into the darkness of a black hole where the floor literally sinks, lie down on mirrored floors, gaze into the infinity of starry LED-lit skies, and experience the beauty of being surrounded by thousand of floating orchids.

Here’s what you need to know about this cutting-edge museum including the different rooms, how much it costs to visit, what to bring, how to get there, and their newest upcoming exhibit starting July 2023.

About teamLab Planets and teamLab

teamLab Planets is a museum in Tokyo that has areas where you walk through water and a garden where you can become one with the flowers. It comprises 4 large-scale artwork spaces and 2 gardens created by art collective teamLab. Various exhibits and artwork are changed depending on the seasons. Depending on the season of your visit, visitors can enjoy different features in the artwork, including cherry blossoms for spring and sunflowers for summer.

Since they opened in July 2018, the monthly number of foreign visitors to team has reached a record high, with over 170,000 visitors in April 2023 alone. It’s estimated that 1 in 10 of those who visit teamLab Planets are foreign tourists.

teamLab is an international art collective, an interdisciplinary group of artists formed in 2001 in Tokyo, Japan, known for creating artworks using digital technology. The group consists of artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects who refer to themselves as “ultra-technologists”. 

The art collective is behind numerous temporary digital exhibitions including the highly popular and now-closed exhibition teamLab Borderless in Tokyo. Their work can be found not just in Japan, but other cities around the world, including New York, London, Paris, Singapore, Silicon Valley, Beijing, and Melbourne.

Current teamLab museums and large-scale permanent exhibitions include teamLab Planets in Tokyo, teamLab Borderless Shanghai, and teamLab SuperNature Macao, with more to open in cities including Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Hamburg, Jeddah, and Utrecht.

In Japan, you can also visit the teamLab Acorn Forest in Saitama and teamLab Botanical Garden in Osaka.

Artwork

NOTE: The museum is best experienced for yourself. Feel free to skip this section if you want to be surprised during your visit.

Right outside the entrance, visitors can admire the Universe of Fire Particles Falling from the Sky and interact with the artwork. With the use of the teamLab app, you can approach this artwork and ignite a flame so you can take home part of the artwork with you.

After leaving our shoes and other items in the locker areas, we entered the museum. There are two main areas: the Water area and the Garden Area, with the water area being the first suggested route.

We waded through a watery path dubbed the Waterfall of Light Particles at the Top of an Incline, guided by the sound of gushing water in the darkness. Then we entered an area dubbed Soft Black Hole – Your Body Becomes a Space that Influences Another Body, where we crossed a dark room where the floor feels like a massive beanbag, making it hard to walk. Since the floor is unstable, how you move also affects how other people fare in their crossing.

I was amazed at the room, The Infinite Crystal Universe, a maze of twinkling LED lights. The different hallways lead to an open area with mirrors on the wall, ceiling and floor, so it feels like you’re just floating in a sea of lights.

Another room that I loved was Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People – Infinity. In this area with knee-high water, we were surrounded by colorful dancing koi fish that moved along with the timed music. Interestingly, the art installation is interactive. When you touch carps swimming around, they turns into flowers. The otherworldly music just adds to the experience.

The room Floating in the Falling Universe of Flowers gave us a 360 degree view of flowers of all colors floating and dispersing throughout the space. Like a mini-planetarium where you’re surrounded by stars, visitors can just sit or lie down to become one with the flowers. This room left us a slightly dizzy since watching for too long really gives the sensation of falling or floating.

teamLab, Floating in the Falling Universe of Flowers. © teamLab

Due to ongoing renovation work, the exhibit Expanding Three Dimensional Existence in Transforming Space – Flattening 3 Colors and 9 Blurred Colors, Free Floating was closed during the time of our visit. This room is another interactive exhibit that features free floating spheres that resonate a sound and change colors when touched.

teamLab, Expanding Three-Dimensional Existence in Transforming Space – Flattening 3 Colors and 9 Blurred Colors, Free Floating © teamLab

In the garden area, we saw the piece Moss Garden of Resonating Microcosms – Solidified Light Color, Sunrise and Sunset. In the daytime, the garden is filled with natural light and soft haze. The silver eggs resonate a tone when touched. However, the display comes alive at night when the eggs glow and turn into different colors.

teamLab, Moss Garden of Resonating Microcosms – Solidified Light Color, Sunrise and Sunset. © teamLab

The last artwork we visited, and the most intriguing artwork was the Floating Flower Garden, which combines nature and technology. The large mirrored space contains 10,000 natural orchids suspended from the ceiling under natural light. The curtain of flowers move up to welcome visitors and you can crawl to a small space to be completely surrounded by the flowers. If not for the time limit to visit, I wouldn’t have minded just sitting here surrounded by flowers all day.

Visiting teamLab Planets was unlike anything we’ve ever experienced in typical museums. It was a great way to spend a rainy morning in Tokyo. Whether it’s your first time in Japan, or you’re revisiting Tokyo with family and friends, teamLab Planets is definitely worth a visit. 

Best time to visit

Starting July 2023, the museum will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on both weekdays and weekends. The museum is the quietest during the first and last two hours on weekdays, and most crowded around noon and lunchtime during weekends.

Allot about 1-2 hours to visit the whole museum excluding travel time. There’s no time limit to visit, but during rush hours, those who have been on the site for a long time may be asked to move forward by staff to make way for new visitors. You can line up again to spend more time at particular rooms or exhibits.

UPDATE: teamLab Planets, which was originally scheduled to close at the end of 2023, has been extended to the end of 2027 due to the popularity of the museum!

What to wear

All visitors need to walk barefoot in the museum, so wear shoes that are easy to take on and off. You will be wading through areas with water that are knee-deep, so it’s better to be wearing shorts instead of pants or leggings which may be hard to roll up. You can store your shoes, socks, stockings, etc. safely in the free lockers. Clean towels are available to dry off when you exit the wet rooms.

Parts of the museum have mirrored floors and ceilings. If you’re wearing a dress or a skirt, your underwear may be visible in the mirrors, so it’s better if you wear tight shorts under your skirt. For those who need to change, the museum provides shorts (ranging in sizes from XS to 6L) that you can borrow free of charge. 

What to bring

As for your camera gear, bringing a bulky SLR isn’t really recommended because of the dark rooms and water element. There’s an area where it’s hard to walk and you will be sort of crawling so it’s hard to carry a lot of stuff. Guests are free to bring in smartphones and small action cameras. Selfie sticks, monopods, and tripods are not allowed. I’d suggest leaving your bulky bags in the lockers and just keep phones securely in your pockets or a very small bag. The museum will not take responsibility in case you drop your phones or camera into the water.

There are detour routes available for those with disabilities or need wheelchair access and those with infants with front baby carriers who would like to skip certain artworks. There’s a storage facility on site for those who need to leave suitcases and strollers.

Entrance fees

As of our visit on June 2023, regular tickets differed from weekdays and weekends.

Prices will increase starting July onwards.

July/August – Weekdays and weekends

You can get tickets from the teamLab Planets TOKYO DMM Ticket Store: https://teamlabplanets.dmm.com. Tickets can be purchased with credit card / PayPay / UnionPay Card. Tickets may also be purchased at vending machines at the venue with cash, credit card, or Alipay, with staggered timeslots per day.

Klook.com

For those in the Philippines who want to secure their tickets conveniently before their trip, you can also book tickets online via Klook. Book tickets here.

Business hours

New exhibit for summer starting July 1, 2023

teamLab Planets in Tokyo is creating a summer-exclusive world where sunflowers bloom. The artwork known as Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People – Infinity will be transformed into a space where sunflowers bloom from Saturday 1st July to Monday 31st July 2023 as a limited summer exclusive event.

teamLab, Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People – Infinity © teamLab

This summer project can be experienced not only in one exhibition, but also in the artwork Floating in the Falling Universe of Flowers. In this exhibition, flowers grow, bud, bloom, and eventually petals fall and the flowers die, echoing the cycle of birth and death.

teamLab, Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People – Infinity © teamLab

UPDATE: In September 2023, teamLab launched a brand new digital art installation titled Ephemeral Solidified Light. This new, interactive artwork encompasses countless masses of light floating in the air, each one made up of multiple colors.

Where to eat

If you’re hungry while waiting to go in or after visiting the museum, there’s a vegan ramen place right in front of teamLab Planets. Vegan Ramen UZU Tokyo, a restaurant from Kyoto, which opened in October 2021 serves ramen, unique flavors of vegan ice cream (ex. Pistachio Green Tea, Pink Rhubarb, Soybean Flour Coffee) and various teas that are only available in Tokyo

teamLab Planets TOKYO, Tokyo © teamLab

Diners can enjoy ramen in teamLab’s Reversible Rotation – Non-Objective Space artwork space, as well as the Table of Sky and Fire and One Stroke Bench outside of the restaurant. The restaurant can be visited without entry to teamLab Planets.

teamLab Planets TOKYO, Tokyo © teamLab

How to get to teamLab Planets

teamLab Planets is in the Toyosu area, east of the metropolitan center of Tokyo. It is located right by the Shin-Toyosu Station on the Yurikamome Line. From Shinjuku Station, take the Shinjuku Line to Ichigaya Station, then switch to the Yurakucho Line train. You can get off at Toyosu Station, from there it’s a 10-minute walk. Alternatively, you can ride the Yurikamome Line, one stop over directly to the Shin-Toyosu Station. The museum is 5 minutes on foot from Shijomae Station and Toyosu Market.

Address & social media accounts

teamLab Planets is located at 6-1-16 Toyosu, Koto Ward, Tokyo.

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