teamLab Planets Tokyo is a futuristic and immersive digital art experience in Tokyo. Unlike any other museum, the exhibits will surely delight the entire family.
Tokyo is a city with endless wonders. It’s filled with edgy buildings, interesting stores, and plenty of fun activities to discover. One of the most unique experiences in Japan is teamLab’s immersive exhibits. We’ve previously visited teamLab Borderless and our entire family had so much fun exploring the dark unknown. We couldn’t wait to go to teamLab Planets during our visit to Japan in Dec 2022.
The Planets exhibit is currently extended until the end of 2023. It was originally scheduled to shut down in the fall of 2020.
teamLab Planets TOKYO
If you are not familiar with teamLab’s exhibitions, the displays are massive digital modern art that offer multi-sensory, full-body immersive experience. Visitors are encouraged to touch and interact with the artworks to maximize their exploration. Separated by rooms or space, each exhibit transports the visitors into a different realm.
The Planets TOKYO exhibition is located in a warehouse in Toyosu area, not far from the world-renowned Toyosu Fish Market. There are 2 main themes: water and garden. With 7 exhibits in the water area and 2 in the garden area.
First, no shoes are allowed inside the museum as you are to experience the mysterious spaces barefooted.
Ready to check them out? Let’s go!
Waterfall of Light Particles at the Top of an Incline
Once you start making your way to the water area entrance in bare feet, you would be greeted with a big surprise! Inside the entrance, warm ankle-high water comes rushing down a ramp. Our sensations heightened and grew increasingly exhilarated while we waded slowly to the waterfall at the top.
Soft Black Hole – Your Body Becomes a Space that Influences Another Body
After the warm water walk, visitors are suddenly transitioned into a room where the floor is covered with a soft fabric. As if someone is playing a trick, the fabric feels like quicksand and it sucks your legs in with each step when you try to move forward. We could only laugh our way out while trying to cross the room without falling over too much and making a fool of ourselves.
The Infinite Crystal Universe
The dark room ends and transitions to a bright crystal palace, with sparkling lights forming different patterns and evolving into different shapes. We’ve seen a similar experience at Borderless but it was nevertheless delightful.
Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People – Infinity
Moving on to the adjacent space, we are immediately transported to another world where the room is filled up with knee-high cloudy water. Digital koi projected on the water are swimming around and interacting with visitors. There are mirror walls all around us, which makes us feel like we are in the movie Matrix.
Matter is Void – Fire
Off to the side of the water room, there’s a slight hidden room with the graphics Matter is Void on the wall. Very cool!
Expanding Three-Dimensional Existence in Transforming Space – Flattening 3 Colors and 9 Blurred Colors, Free Floating
The next room we entered is dream-like, filled with large spheres in the space on a mirrored floor. The colorful spheres are both suspended and on the floor. When they’re touched or bumped, the spheres change color, and the color cascades throughout the room.
Floating in the Falling Universe of Flowers
The last room in the water area is absolutely mind blowing, with colorful projections flying across the walls and ceiling. The design is meant to let visitors feel like they’re floating through space with explosions of floral patterns. We simply sat down and took in the amazing visuals in the room.
Moss Garden of Resonating Microcosms – Solidified Light Color, Sunrise and Sunset
After the water area, we entered the garden space which was added most recently. The moss garden from what we’ve seen is better enjoyed during the night. During the day, you feel like you’re in some alien land with metal eggs about to hatch. At night, the ovoids glow in different colors. The colors spread to other nearby ovoids when they are being pushed over.
Floating Flower Garden: Flowers and I are of the Same Root, the Garden and I are One
The last room in the garden is utterly surreal. We’re surrounded by a three-dimensional mass of orchids dangling from the ceiling. The flowers move up and down to create space for visitors to walk around. It gets a bit visually disorientating as the floor is a giant mirror. In this ethereal space, you become one with the garden.
Many of the exhibits at teamLab Planets bring about an out-of-this-world experience. Through imagery, color, touch, and smell, the immersive concept of this digital art successfully creates an entirely new relationship between people and art. We’re sensorially overwhelmed, deeply moved, and inspired all at once.
Anyone visiting Tokyo needs to make a stop there!
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I will be going next week. It looks like your daughter got her jeans wet. Does it dry or is it better to take a change of jeans?
Hi Lily, if your roll up your jeans above the knees it should be fine. Also, wet jeans dry quickly in Japan due to the lower humidity in the spring.
I plan to attend this exhibit in April. Two questions: Are there dressing rooms to change into shorts.
Are cameras allowed.
Yes, cameras are allowed but we would recommend filming with a cell phone just in case you drop it in the water. We don’t remember if there’s a dressing room but there’s a large shoe locker area where all the visitors can put away their shoes and roll up their pants.
I went to the exhibit a few weeks ago. Originally, I wasn’t going to go because it was so expensive, but it was worth it. We booked our tickets a few days before. My favorite room was the orchids.
Hi Sheri, so happy you thought it was worthwhile. We also loved the orchid room. It was a bit difficult to visually figure out what’s real and what’s a reflection.
Hi Mariko- I have tickets for 9:00 am entrance. I was wondering what time I should arrive there. Do they let people in according to their tickets or like first come first serve?
It’s staggered entry, so they will announce when 9 am tickets can start lining up. We would recommend arriving around 8:50 am to start getting in line.
Ohhhh when I first saw the stories you posted on ig when you were there I thought it was the same one I went to in 2019 which was the borderless!! Then reading this I realized it was a different one. Thank you Mr JOC for writing this article and resharing the pictures I really enjoyed reading and seeing them again. Also it made me think of the time when I went to teamlab borderless it was kind of last-minute thing I decided on with my friend after being lost in Shinjuku station! 😆 But I’m glad I went and I hope next time I visit Japan(hopefully ending of October and they’re still open) I’ll go to teamlab planets!
Hi Mariko, we hope you’ll have a chance to visit. It’s a bit confusing because both exhibits were open at the same time before and just a few stations from each other before. When we visited borderless and our friends visited planets, we realized there were 2 different exhibits.
Borderless is much larger than Planets and they are quite different. We had a lot of fun at both.
Thank you for this. I was wondering if it is recommended to purchase tickets in advance online or closer to visit day. I don’t know which day I want to go and so not sure how fast tickets get sold out.
Hi Carmen,
We purchased our tickets a few weeks prior to our visit and it wasn’t an issue. Planets has been open for a while now so the demand is more reasonable and you shouldn’t have issues getting tickets. We would still recommend planning ahead and buying the ticket as soon as you know which day you’re visiting.