Sean has his top 3. I have my top 3, and teamLab Borderless located out at Odaiba was the #1 thing I wanted to do in Japan. Odaiba Island is Tokyo’s waterfront city, a man made island (which used to be a landfill!) chock a block with an artificial beach, high-tech buildings, exhibition sites, amusement centres, restaurants, museums, malls, parks, hot spring resort and a great big ferris wheel. Did I mention there was also a replica of the Statue of Liberty too?
Getting floored by teamLab Borderless
teamLab is a group of ultra technologists made up of artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects. The interdisciplinary collective explores the relationship between art, science, technology, design and the natural world. The result is a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring 2-story, 10,000 square metres interactive museum. And possibly Tokyo’s most Instagrammable spot!
When you enter teamLab Borderless, you’re enveloped in the Forest of Flowers and People: Lost, Immersed and Reborn ecosystem. Seasonal flowers bud, grow, blossom, scatter and fade away – the cycle of growth and decay repeating itself in perpetuity.
Our eyes went wide when we came across the Universe of Water Particles on a Rock Where People Gather space. So gorgeous! When you interact with the waterfall by touching the wall or sitting on the rock with your back to the wall, you bring about changes to the flow of water, resulting in the waterfall coming down around you – as it would in nature.
One of the biggest attractions at Borderless is the insanely gorgeous Forest of Resonating Lamps. The Murano glass lamps are activated by going near them, causing it to emit a colour that resonates out to all the other lamps, creating different patterns.
Pro-tip: You only get what felt like 2 minutes to be in the glass-encased room, so make sure you fire off a lot of pictures. It goes by fast! You could, of course, line up to go again.
For a space age-y time, hit up the Crystal World, a 3D light space. Walking through the space or interact via Borderless app will cause these string lights, which looks like falling rain, to change colours. The futuristic space, coupled with the mirrored walls and floors and light-speed lights seriously gave me spaceship jumping into warp speed vibes.
The other Borderless attraction that we had to queue for was the Floating Nest on the second floor. The line up was hella long but we thought the wait wouldn’t be too bad. Wrong. Queueing downstairs in the Forest of Flowers and People: Lost, Immersed and Reborn space, we must have waited for what felt like over an hour and I must say, it was a disappointment.
The line took so long that may in the line up were grumpy by the time we got to the front. I should’ve just left the line when I saw people coming out with a non-plussed look on their faces. They weren’t excited or chatty about what they just saw. But then I thought, we waited this long, we might as well just go through it it.
You have the option to sit up or lie down on the rope nest and watch the accompanying light show. However, the Cave downstairs was also playing the same Crows are Chased and the Chasing Crows are Destined to be Chased as well, Transcending Space show, so it turned out to be a waste of time for us. The only difference between the 2 installations was that you’re lying down, “floating in space” at the Floating Nest.
I’d caution anyone waiting as long as we did to think twice. You’re not losing out if you skip it. Luckily, we saw so many mind-blowing and inventive things that it didn’t sour our overall experience.
In the Weightless Forest of Resonating Life, the free-floating balloons surrounding you will turn different colours when you interact with it, which will cause nearby balloons to also change into that same colour and tone.
teamLab Borderless is unlike anything that I have ever experienced. Wander, explore, and discover. Leave your inhibitions behind – this is a place where your inner child can explore, touch, and be wowed by living, breathing digital artwork. It is absolutely worth the cover charge and any line up.
Pro-tip: purchase your tickets online beforehand because it’s very likely you won’t be able to get tickets at the door. Once advance tickets are sold out online, there will be no same-day tickets. I had two friends who tried to go at different times and were unfortunately turned away at the door because they didn’t have tickets. Also, the earlier you go, the less you’ll wait in line. We got there by 1pm and waited around 30 minutes to get in.
Feeling small beside Unicorn Gundam
After spending over three hours inside the Borderless exhibition, we walked to Diver City to see the Unicorn Gundam statue. The RX-0 Unicorn Gundam is a 1:1 scale replica, standing at 64.6 feet tall and a faithful reproduction.
It transforms from unicorn to destroy mode four times a day. (at 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm). When it’s in destroy mode, its armour plates slide out, pink lights pulsate, accompanied by the Gundam theme song. It’s such a fun sight to behold (even if you’re not a fan) and one that I would imagine would look totally awesome when it’s night time.
And if that’s not enough Gundam for you, check out the Gundam themed exhibition hall inside the mega-mall. There’s lots to see and do on Odaiba – especially for those who love otaku culture.
Pro-tip: although we didn’t use it, there’s a free shuttle bus that takes visitors around the island. There’s 10 different pick up/drop off points and buses depart every 20 minutes from 1130am-7pm.
View more photos of teamLab Borderless, Tokyo and Japan on my Flickr albums.
MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM: teamLab Borderless
Hours:
Weekdays: 10am-7pm | Sat, Sun & Holidays: 10am-9pm | Closed: 2nd & 4th Tues
Address:
Odaiba Palette Town 2F, 1-3-8 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo, Japan
The Life-Sized Unicorn Gundam Statue
DiverCity Tokyo Plaza, 1-1-10 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo
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