Know Before You Go - Teamlab Borderless in Tokyo, Japan チームラボボーダレス
On our third day in Tokyo, my friends and experienced Teamlab Borderless / チームラボボーダレス, an interactive digital art museum located in the Mori Building of the Palette Town shopping complex in the area of Odaiba (Tokyo). We had seen a lot of coverage on this, and were not surprised to be confronted with a line out of the door that wrapped down the stairs, past a parking lot and down the sidewalk.
You receive a ticket for the day you choose, and there is no time slot/entry time, so you arrive at the time that you’d like to go. Because we were having lunch with a couple of other friends that would be leaving, we didn’t get around to the museum until about mid-day. When we first saw the wait, we were a few minutes away from turning around and saying forget it. But, we were already there, didn’t have other plans so figured let’s just wait in line and kill time. We waited for about an hour before we reached the front doors. Since we already had our tickets on our phones, we just had to get them scanned by an attendant before entering the space in which they would let groups of people in at a time.
There is a brief safety and intro video that you watch, then they open up the doors and you can explore the space for however long you’d like (during business hours of course). They tell you that the artwork moves, transforms and interacts with each other, and because it is changing, you can come back to a room you have visited before and the artwork will look different.
Every room moves seamlessly between each other, but you’ll most likely have to wait for the The Forest of Lamps. We didn’t end up waiting in line for it as it looked like a at least an hour long, and we only just rain into seeing the entrance for the line towards the end of our visit. The museum is split into 4 parts/worlds: Borderless World, Athletics Forest, The Forest of Lamps and Future Park.
I just can’t get over how immersive the entire experience is, it’s truly a magical time at teamLab Borderless, and I highly recommend visiting. Here are some tips when planning your visit:
Wearing White: I didn’t think to plan my wardrobe and wore all dark colors; if you want to capture interesting photos and video, I suggest wearing white or a light colors so you can see the projections on you. But also wear appropriate clothing/outerwear for the weather in case you need to wait outside (there is a luggage check for outerwear, umbrellas, strollers and such).
Arriving Early: To really make the most of your visit, get there a little before opening to queue up and get in right at opening so you can stay there for as long as possible (take advantage of your time inside, there is no re-entry) - and if that’s case…….
Wear Comfy Shoes - you will have to have flat shoes on for the Athletic Forest & Future Park - so for the ladies, don’t wear crazy heels or heels period. If you happen to have non-flat shoes, there is a room to store your shoes and you receive something flat to wear.
Book En Tea House! It’s super cool and only around $5 for the experience. You can book in advance when you purchase your admission ticket to teamLab Borderless online, or do a walk in. That’s what we did and thankfully the time that we arrived at the tea house, and there was quite a bit of vacancy for us to be seated.
Get Your Tickets in Advance - this is to avoid if a day that you want to visit is sold out of tickets. Ticket cancellations aren’t permitted, but you can change the date of your ticket one time until 9:00AM of your original ticket date (there are restrictions which are listed on the FAQs page). I easily purchased tickets for Scott and I from the museum page - it ended up being around $29 per person.
MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: teamLab Borderless in Odaiba
Odaiba Palette Town 2F, 1-3-8 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
teamLab Borderless is on the 2nd floor of Palette Town next to the entrance to the giant ferris wheel.
Go to the second floor of Palette Town, and go through the MEGA WEB building towards the giant ferris wheel.
Term Jun 21, 2018 - Permanent
Hours Weekdays 10:00 - 19:00 Sun, Sat & Holiday 10:00 - 21:00*
Last entry 1 hour before the museum closing time.
* EN TEA HOUSE opens 1 hour after the museum door opens. Last order is 30 min before closing.
* Hours may vary depending on the season.
Closed Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Monday,February 17,2020 - Wednesday,February 19,2020
