Visiting TeamLab Borderless in Tokyo

Crystal World is one of the most popular exhibitions at the Mori Building Digital Art Museum. It’s made of mirrored floor and walls and hanging LED lights that change colors.

It’s one of the most magical places in the museum, where you can take cool photos even though there are lots of other people.

NOTE: Dresses and skirts are not ideal for this place since the floor is mirrored. Shorts, jumpsuits, or pants are much better options!

This is probably one of my favorite exhibitions. It’s a room with mirrored floors and walls that are filled with lightbulbs that change color.

You kinda get the feeling of a lantern festival or the magical lantern scene from the Disney movie named Tangled.

A group of 30 people are let inside the lightbulb room at a time, and can be in there only for one minute.

The “Universe of Water Particles on a Rock where People Gather” exhibition have a pretty long name, but it actually describes it perfectly.

It’s one of the most popular exhibitions in the TeamLab Borderless museum and is always packed with people.

If you want to go here and take a photo without the crowds, make sure to be one of the first persons in line when they open and go straight to this exhibition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Adam Hann (@1975adam) on Aug 17, 2019 at 7:41am PDT

This is no doubt one of the coolest exhibitions at the TeamLab Borderless museum.

It’s a huge mirrored room filled with lights on the walls and ceiling. The lights move around in the room to create different kinds of illusions and 3 dimensional objects.

Most people who go into this exhibition stand against the wall, however, you should stand in the middle of the room for the best experience.

As mentioned, it’s best to book your tickets in advance to ensure that it won’t be sold out on the day of your visit. If it’s not sold out and you don’t have any tickets, you’ll most likely have to stand in line for about 1-2 hours to buy the tickets. 

Reserve your tickets here

The best time to visit is in the morning when they open. Later during the day you’ll have to stand in line to get inside, as well as waiting in queues to get to some of the most popular exhibitions in the museum.

If you want to be one of the first people in line, I would go there about 30-60 minutes before they open. We got there 10 minutes before they opened and there was already a long queue. We got to go inside with the second group of people.

The earlier the better!

Three of the coolest and most popular exhibitions are Crystal World, Universe of Water Particles on a Rock where People Gather, and Forest of Resonating Lamps.

If you’re one of the first persons in line when they open the museum, I would go to the “Universe of Water Particles on a Rock where People Gather” first. This is a place that’s always packed with people, and if you’re lucky you can see it without the crowds to take some cool photos.

If you’re further back in the line, it’s no point going there first since there will, for sure, be many other people who will go there directly when they get inside.

So, if you’re at the back of the line, I would go to the Forest of Resonating Lamps first.

This is another popular exhibition where it’s often a long queue to see the lightbulb room. In addition to this, you go inside with a group of 30 other people and you can only stay inside the room for 1 minute.

One minute is not enough if you want to take several photos. Alex and I started with this exhibition and I think we could go inside 4-5 times in a row before a big queue started to form.

However, there’s no problem to take cool photos inside this exhibition even though you’re in a group with 30 other people. The only downside is that you have to wait in line for a while, and that you might not have the time or energy to go inside a second time.

After visiting the Forest of Resonating Lamps, I would head towards the Crystal World. It’s another popular spot that’s always packed with people. However, if you go here quite early, it will be possible for you to snap some photos.

Even if you go later when it’s even more packed, it’s still possible. You just have to have patience and wait out the people who are walking by.

The good thing about the Cyrstal World is that there can be several people inside at a time, and there’s not really a limit on how long you can stay. So you do not have to worry about standing in line several times to experience this exhibition to the fullest.

After these exhibitions, just take your time to enjoy all the other cool places at TeamLab Borderless.

You cannot bring tripods, selfie sticks, and big bags (50cm or longer) into the museum. Some of the exhibitions have narrow areas where you can bump into things, and therefore its not allowed.

The best is to leave all that stuff home and bring a small bag where you can have your camera.

If you’re going there alone, do not worry, you’ll be able to get some cool photos without a tripod. There are several rooms where they have mirrored floors and walls where you can snap some fun photos of yourself. Otherwise it’s just to ask some of the other visitors if they can help you take a photo or two!