teamLab Planets TOKYO

teamLab Planets is a large walk-through digital art museum in Toyosu created by teamLab, the Tokyo-based art collective known for immersive light installations. It opened in July 2018 and has proved so popular that its run has been extended several times; the current plan is for it to stay open until the end of 2027. The concept is that you experience the art with your whole body, moving through the works barefoot rather than looking at them from a distance.

After leaving your shoes and socks in a free locker, you follow a route through a sequence of dark rooms. In one, water reaches around knee height and projected koi swim around your legs, scattering into flowers when they touch you. Others include a room of soft, sinking floors, a mirrored space filled with hanging strands of light, and a cascade of light pouring down a slope. The Garden section adds a Floating Flower Garden, where thousands of living orchids hang from the ceiling and rise as you approach, and a moss garden with large reflective spheres outdoors.

The museum is open from 8:00 to 22:00, with last entry an hour before closing, apart from a few announced closure days and an earlier finish on 31 December. Tickets are timed and sold only in advance through the official online store, not at the door. Prices are dynamic, with adult entry listed from 3,800 yen, and tickets cannot be refunded, although the entry time can be changed up to three times. Early slots and weekday evenings tend to be quieter.

It suits families, couples, groups of friends and anyone who enjoys photography, and children are usually enthralled. Wear trousers that roll up above the knee, or borrow the free shorts provided in sizes from XS upwards, and avoid skirts because some floors are mirrored. Small children need an adult to carry them through the deepest water. Allow around one and a half to two hours. Lockers are compact, so large suitcases have to be stored separately.

The entrance is about a minute's walk from Shin-Toyosu Station on the Yurikamome Line, or around ten minutes on foot from Toyosu Station on the Yurakucho Line. Toyosu Market, Tokyo's wholesale fish market, is one stop away, so the two can be combined in a morning.