‘I was almost brought to tears’: Navigating Tokyo’s hugely popular tourist attraction

It’s not exactly a museum, it’s not exactly an art installation and it’s not exactly an amusement park. It’s a little like a combination of all three, but more.

teamLab, Floating Flower Garden – Interactive Kinetic Installation by Hideaki Takahashi.Credit: teamLAB/Pace Gallery

It’s teamLab Planets, a series of seven different visual experiences that involve you walking around and becoming part of the tactile displays with other visitors. This is full immersion stuff, made by a team of international digital artists who have combined cutting-edge technology with the natural world. It’s in place until the end of 2027.

Located on the waterfront on the man-made island of Toyosu, south-east of the city centre on Tokyo Bay, teamLab Planets is right by Shin-Toyosu Station on the Yurikamome Line, or an easy 10-minute walk from Toyosu Station on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line. If you’re arriving by taxi, it’s about a 25-30 minute ride from Shibuya or Shinjuku.

An interactive digital installation – “Endless, Sound”.Credit: teamLab/Pace Gallery

The first thing you need to know is this – book ahead. It’s popular. Really, really popular. Over 100,000 people visited last year, more than half of them international tourists. In other words, it’s essential to book via their website (teamlab.art), preferably well before you travel to Japan. Tickets are ¥3800 ($38) for adults on weekdays (it goes up to ¥4200 on weekends), ¥2800 for high school students and ¥1500 for children aged four to 12.

When you book, you’ll be asked for your preferred time of entry. It does get crowded, although the staggered entry times and the sheer size of teamLab Planets – around 10,000 square metres across multiple rooms – help to spread everyone out. If you can, avoid weekends, when a lot more locals visit, swelling the numbers. It’s best to go on a weekday and book your scheduled entry for either opening time (9am), or in the last couple of hours before closing time (10pm). You explore the installations at your own pace, so you can take as long as you like, but put aside a couple of hours to really immerse yourself.

“The Infinite Crystal Universe,” an interactive installation of light sculpture.Credit: teamLab/Pace Gallery

It’s important to know that you will be instructed to take off your shoes when entering teamLab Planets and you will spend the entire time barefoot. At some points you will be walking around in water almost up to your knees. So keep the tight jeans that can’t be rolled up back at the hotel. They do provide shorts you can change into if you need them, but if it’s summer or spring, or a mild day, make it easy on yourself and wear shorts or a skirt that’s not below your knees. There are lockers provided for storing your shoes and bags.

Once you get inside, you’ll have your senses tickled and your perceptions altered. You’ll get lost in a maze of strings of LED lights seemingly extending forever in the Infinite Crystal Universe. You’ll wade through water aglow with the digital images of swimming koi (fish) that will shatter into flowers when they connect with your legs. You’ll walk through a hanging garden of 13,000 orchids that react when you come into contact with them.

In my favourite section, Floating In The Falling Universe Of Flowers, I was surprised to be almost brought to tears. In a darkened room with mirrored walls, ceiling and floor, you can sit or lie down on your back and watch images of flowers budding and blooming as they fall through seemingly infinite space all around you. Eventually you feel yourself floating in space too. It’s worth noting that these aren’t pre-recorded programs that play over and over on a loop, but a continuously changing computer program that rolls out in real time and is altered and affected by the people who come into the space.

After your visit, you’ll definitely want to debrief with your travelling companions. There’s an inviting eatery called Vegan Ramen UZU Tokyo on-site in the open-air plaza outside, offering ramen, ice cream and teas which you can enjoy amid a number of outdoor artworks. There are also plenty of waterfront walks and outdoor spaces to enjoy in Toyosu, including Toyosu Gururi Park and the Rainbow Bridge, or you can visit Toyosu Fish Market or get some post-Planets retail therapy at the massive LaLaport Toyosu shopping mall.

The writer travelled to Tokyo with assistance from Fender Australia.