Water, Light, and Wonder: A Day at teamLab Planets

We had Field Trip Friday on Thursday this week and went to teamLab Planets. This is an immersive digital art museum and we had to get tickets in advance (they were sold out for Friday). This was a crazy sensory experience. It was weird, it was like nothing we had ever seen before, and it was amazing! There were two main areas to explore – Forest and Water.

Catching and Collecting in the Forest

The first thing we explored in the Forest area was capturing extinct animals with an app. The animals were projected on the screen and floor and would run away when we got too close to them. You could then read about them and even hear what the animal sounded like. Braxton captured 36 out of the 87 animals and Alexis captured 24. The kids had so much fun with this! We had to put a limit on it when we realized how much it was draining our phone batteries.

Athletic Forest

The next area we ventured to was called the Athletic Forest. This area had various physical challenges for us to complete. Their website describes it as: A high-dimensional thinking athletics space based on the concept of perceiving the world with your body. In a complex and challenging space, you will be immersed in a physically challenging four-dimensional world where time changes with the presence of your body.

Where Water Meets the Glow

To prepare for the water section we had to remove our shoes and put them in a locker. This area started with walking up a dark sloped hallway that had water running down it. Once we emerged and dried our feet, we entered what was called The Infinite Crystal Universe. The floor and ceiling were mirrors and there were lights hanging everywhere!

After the Crystal Universe we immersed ourselves into the Spheres of Light. This was super fun!

Next we entered a space where the entire room was filled with milky white water up to your shins. There were digital flowers and koi fish swimming in the water that burst when you touched them.

The last thing we experienced was Floating in a Falling Universe of Flowers. This was beautiful, but the floor felt like it was tilting and it gave me a touch of motion sickness.

Vending Machine Treats and Trains

Before getting back on the train home we enjoyed a vending machine ice cream treat. We have purchased drinks from the various vending machines often, but this was our first ice cream. It was exactly what we needed after the exhaustion of a museum.

This was our last Field Trip Friday while in Tokyo as we leave for Osaka on Tuesday. We navigated three separate train lines to get to and from this area like pros, with Alexis often leading the way. We marveled at how much we’ve improved with this over the month. Alexis still gets lost in our Colorado neighborhood after 13 years, but one month in Japan and she’s an expert.