teamLab Planets in Tokio’s Toyosu: walking through digital water

In Toyosu on the eastern side of Tokio, teamLab Planets turns the idea of an art museum into a barefoot journey through digital water and living gardens. Opened in July 2018 by the international art collective teamLab together with DMM.com, it occupies a low, dark-clad building that hides a sequence of vast interior halls filled with projection, sound and responsive light.Opened in July 2018

Walking through water and light

teamLab Planets is described as a museum where visitors walk through water, moving between a set of large-scale spaces that surround the body with digital imagery.A museum where you walk through water The building in Toyosu houses several indoor artwork halls and outdoor garden areas, all conceived as “body-immersive” installations by the collective. In some rooms shallow water covers the floor, and projected ripples, fish or abstract forms react to movement, turning each step into part of the artwork.

Other halls replace water with mirrored surfaces and enveloping projections, so the visitor’s reflection multiplies alongside drifting flowers, particles of light or floating spheres. Soundtracks built for each work fill the darkened spaces, and the boundary between viewer and artwork becomes hard to define. The overall layout encourages a sequence: arrival, walking barefoot through the water pieces, then passing into dry rooms where the digital imagery stretches across walls and ceilings.

Gardens where flowers respond to movement

Beyond the interior halls, teamLab Planets incorporates gardens that extend the immersive approach into planted space. The museum includes two outdoor areas where dense planting surrounds walkways and platforms, and where digital elements are woven into the vegetation.Two gardens with large-scale artworks One of the gardens is formed of hanging flowers suspended above a path, so that people move among blooms that rise or lower in response to presence; another sets luminous forms among shrubs and trees.

The gardens sit within the overall site at Toyosu 6-1-16 in Koto City, sharing the address with the indoor museum spaces.Toyosu 6-1-16, Koto City At night the planted areas and exterior walls carry glowing colours and patterns from projection and LED installations, continuing the digital artwork beyond the enclosed halls. The combination of real vegetation and programmable light is a recurring theme in teamLab’s work, and at Planets it turns the exterior into an extension of the museum rather than a separate courtyard.

The Toyosu setting and the team behind it

teamLab Planets stands in Toyosu, a waterside district of Koto Ward built on reclaimed land and linked to central Tokio by rail and road.Located at Toyosu 6-1-16 The building lies close to Shin-Toyosu Station on the Yurikamome Line, with the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line’s Toyosu Station within walking distance.Near Shin-Toyosu and Toyosu stations This location places the museum amidst warehouses, offices and new housing, contrasting the low, dark form of the structure with the higher blocks around it.

The project is credited to teamLab, an international art collective founded in Japan in 2001, working with the internet company DMM.com to create the Toyosu site.Established by teamLab and DMM.com Planets followed earlier large-scale exhibitions by the group, including the teamLab Borderless museum in Odaiba, and brought their interest in interactive, digital environments into a fixed venue with several halls and gardens. The Toyosu building’s simple exterior acts as a shell for the technology inside: projectors, sensors, speakers and control rooms supporting the changing images and sounds.

Visiting teamLab Planets: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• teamLab Planets stands at 6-1-16 Toyosu in Koto Ward, on the eastern side of Tokio. It is reached by urban rail, with Shin-Toyosu Station on the Yurikamome Line and Toyosu Station on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line a short walk away.
• Visitors move through several interior halls where floors are stepped, some surfaces are wet, and the lighting is low, so the experience involves walking barefoot across different textures and gradients.
• The gardens include hanging flowers and other planting around elevated paths. Access involves outdoor walkways that can be exposed to sun, wind or rain depending on the season.
• Japan’s official language is Japanese and the currency is the yen.
• Entry requirements depend on your nationality; UK travellers can check the FCDO travel advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice, Irish travellers the Department of Foreign Affairs at ireland.ie.

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Frequently asked questions about teamLab Planets

Where is teamLab Planets located in Tokio?

teamLab Planets stands in Toyosu in Koto Ward, at the address 6-1-16 Toyosu, close to Shin-Toyosu Station on the Yurikamome Line and Toyosu Station on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line.

What kind of experience does teamLab Planets offer?

Visitors move barefoot through several large digital artwork spaces that incorporate shallow water, mirrored surfaces, projection and sound, along with gardens where flowers and light respond to movement.

What makes teamLab Planets distinctive among museums?

It is built as a body-immersive digital art museum, created by teamLab and DMM.com in 2018, where water-filled halls and responsive gardens turn the entire building into an artwork rather than a series of static displays.