teamLab Planets Tokyo's New Areas Are Now Open—Here's What to See

(SPOT.ph) One of Tokyo's most popular attractions just got a facelift. Early this year, teamLab Planets underwent a major renovation. The digital art museum expanded its total area by over 1.5 times, adding over 20 new digital artworks and attractions. More than just a content refresh, this development introduces new educational and creative spaces for all ages. Here's what's new in teamLab Planets Tokyo. 

Also read: SPOT.ph Tries: What It's Like Spending the Day at teamLab Planets Tokyo

Check out the new attractions in teamLab Planets in Tokyo:

teamLab Planets' new spaces go beyond new digital art projected onto the surfaces. Inside the newly renovated space are over five new areas where you can interact with and influence the art collective's digital pieces. Much like its pre-renovation attractions, these new areas blur the line between art and guest, meaning what you see every time you visit is the collective work of everyone interacting with the pieces.

The new zone additions include Athletics Forest, a multidimensional space where guests can play and move to create and change the surrounding art; Catching and Collecting Forest, where guests can capture and study extinct animals; and Future Park, which the collective describes as "a space for co-creation."

Jump and play in the Athletics Forest in teamLabs Planets Tokyo:

The Athletics Forest features several areas where you can immerse yourself in "high-dimensional thinking using the body." Here, spatial awareness takes on a new light; more than simply learning about the space itself, it's about understanding how our bodies affect the world.

Spaces in the Athletics Forest include the Multi Jumping Universe, a flexible surface where you can jump and sink as the artwork around you warps to your movement, similar to how time and space theoretically warp with gravity. There's also the Aerial Climbing through a Flock of Colored Birds, where guests must try not to fall while navigating horizontal bars suspended by ropes. More adventurous guests can even try bouldering through a light forest or sliding through a fruit field—proving that art and athletics can create magic together. 

Interacting with extinct animals at Catching and Collecting Forest

Various extinct animals go through this portion of the digital art museum. When you move close or touch them, they either run away or turn to face you. But the real magic happens when you use your smartphone to look at an animal moving about. 

Pointing your phone triggers a "research arrow" to fly out from the phone into the real space. Once the arrow reaches the animal, you catch it, and it disappears from the space. Its information is added to your smartphone collection, where you can review it later. After that, you can swipe the animal back to any location in the area to "release" it from captivity. 

You can also lure animals to you by throwing a "research net." You can work with others to drive animals onto your net, capture them, and learn about them as you collect their information on your phone.

Bring your art to life in Future Park

The last new indoor attraction is Future Park, a space where you can bring your art to life. While many digital art museums have attractions with the same idea, teamLab Planets takes this up a notch with four separate attractions that highlight universe creation among guests. 

Sketch Umwelt World is the most familiar. Here, guests can color in an airplane, a dolphin, or a butterfly and see the picture appear in 3D. But more than just seeing it swirl about on the screens before you, you can control your image with your smartphone. 

Aside from being a space for creativity, Future Park is a place "where Little People Live," and you can interact and create art with these folk when you check out the artworks A Musical Wall where Little People Live, A Table where Little People Live, and A Window to the Universe where Little People Live. 

Your first foray into the Little People universe is through the Table where Little People live. Any object you place on the table becomes a part of their world. You can watch as they jump, slide, or climb about in the world you've created for them.

In A Musical Wall where Little People Live, guests can stick stamps of various shapes, such as mushrooms and sheep barns, to a wall and watch as the little people interact with them. Over time, seeds will fall from above, and when these hit the stamps, various notes of different pitches will play depending on the type and position of the stamp. 

The last piece of Future Park brings together elements from all three previous artworks. In A Window to the Universe Where Little People Live, you can create a picture by drawing lines with a light pen or creating shapes with a light stamp. Each line has a special power depending on its color and eventually becomes an active, moving part of the little people's world.

In addition to these three art zones, teamLab Planets expanded its retail area. There are three new commercial zones where you can purchase food or other items to extend your teamLab Planets experience outside the museum. 

The first is the Orchid Glass House, a teahouse where guests can rest after touring. More than just an ordinary teahouse, it is a regrowth center for the fallen orchids from the Floating Flower Garden attraction. Additionally, when a cup of tea or sake is poured, the drink glows and emits a unique tone that causes the surrounding lamps and cups to react, gradually synchronizing with one another. 

The next two spaces are shops. The Living Art Store is a flower shop where you can purchase a wide variety of orchids. Like the plants in the Orchid Glass House, these orchids once bloomed as part of the Floating Flower Garden.

For those who can't leave an attraction without a souvenir, the Sketch Factory is a must-stop. Make an order at the Sketch Factory with drawings you made from attractions inside and turn them into badges, hand towels, T-shirts, tote bags, and more. You can commemorate your visit to teamLab Planets by turning your original drawings into custom merch.

Whether you've been here before or if teamLab Planets is still on your travel bucket list, this renovation and all the new pieces prove it is time to revisit this Tokyo favorite.

For more information, visit teamLab Planets Tokyo's website.

Here's another teamLab exhibition to visit in Japan:
LOOK: This teamLab Exhibit Is a Nighttime-Only Permanent Outdoor Show 

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