Our itinerary for Day 08 in Tokyo primarily featured two indoor places to check out; firstly for the morning, TeamLab Planets, an interactive museum that features both digital art and stylish gardens. We’d booked tickets already several weeks ago through Klook and for 9AM admission, and when we arrived at 8:45AM – the place was three train rides from our Tokyo hotel – there were already long lines formed.
An hour visit later, it’s hard to describe what the experience: only that it is a mix of the surrealistic, elegant, beautiful, and mesmerizing! Pictures and notes:
The long lines do clear fairly quickly if you’re arriving at the start of opening hours. Groups of about 40-50 at a time enter into the briefing area to listen to a short 3 minute pre-recorded instruction video, then proceed to the locker area, remove footwear and bags and place them in lockers.
There are six exhibits: four large rooms that feature digital art, and two gardens. Visitors follow a route. The most interesting ones for visitors will likely be:
The Infinite Crystal Universe with its at least tens of thousands of LED lights that change color. It’s similar to the exhibit at Marina Bay Sands, just much bigger.
Floating in the Universe of Falling Flowers, a 360 degree VR sphere that looks realistic enough you might just get nauseous!
Floating Flower Garden: this has thousands of hanging flowers that slowly move in vertical fashion, and coupled with mirrors on the floor create an effect that one is completely enveloped with flora. It’s an amazing effect, though timed so you can only spend about 5 minutes before you have to exhibit the room for the next group.
There are some water areas, but nothing too dramatic: as long as you keep your pants to knee length or so, they’d stay dry. There are towels after each water exhibit for you to dry your feet, so you need not bring your own.
The museum will take about an hour for you to complete the circuit, and perhaps 90 minutes if you really take your time. It looks possible too to repeat the route when you reach the end if you so with.
Our overall take: this is a must visit if you’re in Tokyo, albeit that admission prices are a little on the pricey side. Also, unless you’re faced with the constraints of time, don’t go for the morning admissions: go with the evening ones, as the artwork in the other garden – The Moss Garden – only comes to life from sunset. In the day time, it looks drab.
Continued onto the next post: a visit to Small Worlds Tokyo!