teamLab Borderless Tokyo – The World’s First Digital Art Museum

teamLab Borderless Tokyo is the world’s FIRST EVER digital art museum, and let me tell you, it does not disappoint. There’s no other place in the world like teamLab Borderless Tokyo. Be prepared to be forever in awe after experiencing this place. teamLab Borderless museum is a place that I encourage everyone to visit at least once. I promise you will not be disappointed. Pinky swear. Keep scrolling for a teamLab Borderless Tokyo guide, tips, photos & videos.

The concept is that teamLab Borderless is a world of art without boundaries, a museum without a map. Artworks move out of rooms, communicate with other works, influence, and sometimes intermingle with each other with no boundaries. You immerse yourself in this vast, complex, three dimensional world. Wander explore with intention, discover, and create a new world with others.

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teamLab Borderless Tokyo

Known as one of Tokyo’s most Instagrammable spots, teamLab Borderless Tokyo Museum is 100% a visual experience you will never forget. teamLab Borderless Tokyo is in the Mori Building which is located in Tokyo’s Odaiba district. There’s a lot of shopping, restaurants, a ferris wheel, and other fun things to do in the Mori Building, so make sure to spend some time exploring the surrounding area as well. You can easily take the train from wherever you are staying in Tokyo and be there in under an hour.

The Exhibits

The museum is divided into five sections: Borderless World, Athletics Forest, Future Park, Forest of Lamps and the En Tea house. Borderless World is by far the largest exhibition, while the latter two are single installation rooms. In total, there are 50 exhibits spread across the vast two stories. There’s so much to discover at teamLab Borderless Tokyo, so make sure you schedule enough time in your itinerary.

All the exhibitions are permanent, but true to the museum’s ‘borderless’ name, some of the exhibits are not confined to their respective rooms as they seamlessly transition from one to another. Each exhibit is also interactive which is what makes it so fun, memorable, and unique. The videos and digital artwork aren’t played on loop, they are all original and organic, reacting to your movements and participation.

Unlike most museums, you won’t find many signs pointing you in which direction to go. You’re encouraged to just explore and see where your journey takes you.

Some exhibits we really liked:

The “Black Waves” room. We LOVED this room because it was soothing with the soft piano music playing and the calming wave visuals. It’s the perfect place to relax and rest your legs, on the bean bags.

En Tea House. This is located right by the entrance to the Athletics Forest. Here you can enjoy a truly one-of-a-kind tea ceremony. You sit at one of the wrap-around benches, in a very dimly lit area, and the staff will place an empty tea bowl in front of you. Once they pour your green tea drinks for you, magic happens. Your tea starts to come to life with different floral patterns forming on the frothy surface. The light display continues inside your cup until you lift it up to take another sip, and then the flowers continue to burst on your table. (There are four different types of green tea drinks available).

The Forest of Resonating Lamps. This is one of the most famous exhibits at teamLab Borderless Tokyo. The lamps here change in color and intensity when they sense people near them. This movement creates a number of different patterns as the signal is sent out to other lamps nearby. If you’re worried about getting to see all the patterns, you can rest assured that you’ll be able to see most, if not all of them, in the time it takes to wait outside before entering the room. You only have 1-2 minutes once inside though, so make sure you have your camera ready:) They only allow 20 people at a time at this exhibit, so it’s not too crowded inside.

Exhibits we missed & want to check out next time

The Crystal World Room, Light Sculpture Room, Sliding through the Fruit Field slide, climbing trees in the Light Forest Three-dimensional Bouldering area, Aerial Climbing through a Flock of Colored Birds in the Flower Forest as well as the Floating Nest. The line for Floating Nest was really long when we were there so we didn’t get to go. But at Floating Nest you get to watch a night show while lying mid-air on a netted trampoline like structure.

Also the interactive Sketch Aquarium where you can create your own digital sea creatures! You simply pick up one of the templates and use the colored pencils to add some color and design to your creation. Once you take your completed masterpiece over to a member of staff, it will soon appear on the wall, bobbing about underwater for all to see! So cool right?!

Tips

Buy tickets ahead of time. Tickets sell out quickly for the teamLab Borderless Tokyo museum, so make sure to purchase yours ahead of time. Seriously, book them at least 2 weeks in advance.

Eat before. There’s no food inside the museum so make sure to eat before leaving. There’s a food court and some restaurants in the Mori building so you can just walk over there beforehand.

Schedule enough time to explore. We spent 3 hours here, but if we weren’t starving, we woulda/coulda stayed for 5 hours easily.

Wear flat shoes. I made the mistake of wearing boots with a chunky heel. If your shoe has any type of heel, you have to wear the loaned slippers they provide for the Athletics Forest because of all the uneven surfaces, trampolines, slides, etc. Just wear sneakers.

Touch everything. The museum is interactive so all the wall images will react to your movements. Have fun with it!

Be respectful! No flash photos or tripods allowed. Don’t be that person.

teamLab Borderless Tokyo

From climbing light trees and swings to zipping down slides and stepping out on to a floating nest, the museum aims to stimulate all your senses and help you lose your sense of gravity in a fun, exciting way. Be prepared to lose your inhibitions and act like a kid full of wonder, awe, and excitement:)

teamLab Borderless Tokyo Museum is everything I imagined and more. Hands down by far the coolest museum experience of my entire life. It truly felt like a real life dream. Until next time. xo

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