Solo in Tokyo (Day 8): teamLab Borderless

November 19, 2022


The start of my 8th day in Tokyo was a bit different from the rest, because for that day, I was actually going to meet up and socialize with other people.😁 Some Redditors, who were traveling to Tokyo during the same dates, decided to meet up and hang out. A handful of us decided to visit this exhibit called teamLab Borderless. Even before my flight to Tokyo, I was already chatting with those folks over at Reddit. It coincided that I had a "free day" during the trip to accommodate meeting up with some of them. When the dates were set, I booked my tickets online before flying out. Honestly, I would never think of visiting this exhibition on my own, so I was glad that I found a group that I could go along with.

I was excited to hop onto the train because I was exploring yet again another new area of Tokyo -- Odaiba. It's one of the more modern areas in Tokyo, and it was evident just with the views I saw on the train when approaching the man-made island location.

The famous Rainbow Bridge

It was a nice sunny day, the perfect weather for some sightseeing! I then hopped off the train to meet my fellow Redditors. It turned out four of us pushed through with the teamLab plans for this day. After some awkward introductions, we were on our way inside the teamLab exhibition.

In the first few minutes of interaction, I knew we were very different types of people. The mix of people was really interesting. I struggled as I tried to make a connection. Our convos flowed around travel, our experiences in Tokyo so far, and other related cultural stuff. All of these happened three years ago, and unfortunately, I couldn't really recall their names and faces. All I could remember was that two of them knew each other while the other one was a solo traveler as well.


By just seeing the entrance of the exhibit, I felt like this would be an adventure! And indeed it was. Upon entering the first "room", it felt like I entered a dreamlike trance and my eyes were feasted with these psychedelic displays.






These photos don't give much justice on how amazing the exhibit was. Well you can just google and see other people's photos of teamLab to maybe better appreciate what I'm describing to you. 😅 This is still one of my tiny regrets during this trip -- I don't have a decent camera with me that can capture great images in low light settings, so I only was able to capture mediocre shots inside the exhibit.

One of my few selfies inside the exhibit. Believe me, I tried. 😅



I wouldn't recommend wearing a dress when visiting the exhibit. I think they have a note about this for their visitors. 👀

Each room had an insightful explanation on what the concept was and what inspired those colors and patterns. Some were even interactive, instructing you to download an app on your phone to "control" the effects inside the room.




There was also a part of the exhibit wherein you could sit down and have some tea. I cannot remember which tea I had (😢) but I remember that interactive animation wherein whenever we place our cups on the table, a circle of light would spotlight our teacups. Then pink petal flowers would land at the center and would continue to blossom from the center of our cups. We tested this one actually. We landed our cups on different parts of the table, and the circle of light never failed to appear. By the way, the petals only appeared on hot teas. I asked how this could have been done to the Redditors and they geekily (🤓) said that this could be possible by using temperature sensors.


I think it took us more or less an hour to go around the exhibit. I'm so relieved I went with a group in this exhibit because here's a word of caution: it's possible to be lost forever inside the rooms. Just kidding! It can be a little challenging to navigate around the exhibit without a sharp spatial memory. We experienced going around and realizing we went back to a room we've been previously, and had to ask the staff (yes they're there inside!) which was the right way to reach the other rooms.

It was a very interesting experience honestly. I loved everything about the exhibit, except the fact that there were so many people around. 😓I would have felt more immersed with the dreamlike rooms and effects if there were less people chattering (although the dreamy background music helps to drown them) and more space to freely roam around to take an artsy selfie. 😆 

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