TEAMLAB BORDERLESS TOKYO
Teamlab Borderless in Tokyo is an immersive light experience and I loved almost every minute of our nearly 4 hour stay in there, even though I didn’t eat properly first.
I summarized our day there as
four hours
zero meltdowns
Hot Tips to Teamlab
Buy your tickets ahead of time, you can get them here
we also got the tea tickets and that was really funBe aware that when they say “arrive early” leaving your hotel at 10am isn’t early. It’s a bit of a trek out there.
Eat before you go! There’s no food inside.
There is a Wendy’s right outside. We didn’t enjoy our desperate-times meal there. There is a mall at the metro stop before where there are probably more food options.
It’s a long time get into the lantern forest (that’s where the first photo was taken.) Just know that if you want to see it you’re going to have to wait in line.
Wear white to contrast, reflect and become part of the light.
Download the app
It’s called borderless because you get to interact with the art. The lights change around you.
In the first room if you stand still the flowers grow around you. The rooms are full of mirrors so you lose track of where you are and where you’re going. It gets busy at moments and calm in moments and as long as you’re prepared for a crowd you can find quiet moments as you let the waves crash around you.
There’s a room that’s fun for kids (and adults too) with a trampoline and a place for you to draw your own creatures that become lights on the floor. It’s upstairs, and that’s where the tea room is as well (very hidden.) In the tea room you can select which of the four types of tea you want (2 hot and 2 cold) and they’ll show your to your seat, where a server will pour you your tea and a flower begins to grow in your cup. As you drink it, the petals spread across the table.
I felt particularly wonderful, because what I wanted from Japan was a balance between traditional design and quiet meditation, and covering my bag with Hello Kitty keychains. I think the creators felt the same. There were rice paddies to wander through, and traditional taiko drummers who would play music to you when you got close, and an interpretation of the The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
we loved it.
Song: Brace (feat. Rainsford) by Twin Shadow
Ranking the countries I’ve visited is impossible. Each one makes me feel impossibly lucky and overwhelmed with gratitude just for the chance to have been there at all. I’m the luckiest.
That being said, why not try?
25 countries in order of experience.