TeamLab has become an excitingly popular exhibit that is available all over the world. Through the integration of digital art, light projections, and spatial sculptures, they seek to explore the relationship between the self and the world, and new forms of perception. While TeamLab Botanical Gardens in Osaka is highly popular and frequently recommended online, you might still be wondering if it’s truly worth a visit. In this post, we’ll walk you through what to expect from this unique experience, break down the key pros and cons, and share our overall review to help you decide if it’s the right destination for you.
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What is Teamlab Botanical Gardens Osaka?
TeamLab Botanical gardens Osaka is a digitized and interactive art exhibition that explores how nature can become art. Through the use of light projections, interactive sounds that respond to your movements, and physical artwork displays, this exhibition seeks to portray how our existence is intertwined with that of the tree, birds, and nature. This is an outdoor experience that begins at night where you walk through Nagai park to interact with the displays. The experience lasts around 2 hours and can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
How to get to Teamlab Botanical Gardens?
Teamlab Botanical Gardens is held at the Nagai Botanical Gardens in Osaka. The Nagai park stretches over 240,000 sqm with the exhibition mostly in the centre so it does take some walking from the subway station to reach the entrance.
To reach the exhibit, take the Midosuji red line South towards Nagai station. Once out of the station, you will need to walk 11 minutes East towards the centre of the park. Fortunately, there are frequent signs showing which direction to walk, and there are even attendants that point you to the right direction.
What you’ll experience at TeamLab Botanical Gardens?
During your TeamLab Botanical Gardens visit, you will be walking through 13 different artwork displays scattered through Nagai Park. When you purchase your ticket, you will be registering for a specific entrance time. This helps ensure that the exhibition is not too crowded at the same time. Although you must enter at that time, once you are inside, you are free to explore the displays in any order.
When we entered the park at around 7pm, we were grouped with around 20 other people to watch the introduction video. Here you will get instructions about how the artwork displays function as well as what you are now allowed to do. Once the presentation is over and you can enter the park, the group scatter amongst the open space and you begin your experience with the art displays.
To give you an idea of what you’ll see, we will describe some of the artwork displays that we enjoyed the most. Once you enter the park, you will be surrounded by a line of Cypress trees on both sides. The moment you approach the tree, it resonates a sound and will react by projecting a brighter light. This response is cumulative to how many people surround it, as well as how quickly you pass by. The display seeks to show how we and the nature are affected by the presence of those who are around us.
Another artwork that we enjoyed is called “Resonating Microcosms in the Common Camellia Garden”. It features hundreds of transparent ovoids that are about 1 meter tall with lights that change colour inside. What was unique here is that you can interact with and push the ovoids around, and they react by altering their colour patterns. We saw so many kids and families enjoying knocking them around and seeing how they change.
There is then another similar display called “Forest of Autonomous Resonating Life” where the instead of orbs you have these massive 2-3 meter tall plush egg-shape balls. They are clustered around each other and we saw people enjoying running through them and bumping the balls around.
At the centre of the lake, there are three gigantic square blocks with stunning light projections on them. The display is called “Sculptures of Dissipative Birds in the Wind” and creates these colourful “Van Goh”-like patterns that dissolve and flow in beautiful waves. This artwork reflects the importance of the birds and insects and how they create an energy flow that affects the entire ecosystem. We really enjoyed this display and how the lights also reflected on the lake water creating a really magical look.
Overall, the experience lasts around 2 hours and you can walk through it at a leisurely pace. There are 13 artwork displays, each separated into distinct zones.
Pros and Cons of the Experience
To help you determine if the TeamLab Botanical Gardens is a good fit for your visit, we’ve compiled a list of its pros and cons. Since everyone has different preferences and priorities when it comes to travel experiences, this guide is designed to give you a clear idea of what to expect and help you decide if it’s worth adding to your itinerary. Following this, we’ve included a review of our personal experience to give you more insight.
Pros
- Good for kids and family-friendly
- I believe one of the best features of the TeamLab Botanical Gardens experience is that it is excellent for kids. The light displays are interactive, and the projects that include the orbs and giant plush balls can be played with. We frequently saw a lot of kids chasing after each other and pushing the orbs in order to create differing light effects. This is also works due to the large space available in the park. We believe that this experience can be fun for people of all ages.
- Fun activity for evening time
- In our experience in Japan, there seems to be fewer activities in the evening time other than going to dinner. The TeamLab Botanical Gardens experience was perfect as an after dinner event where you can spend 2 hours walking and digesting all the sushi you just ate!
- Large and scenic outdoor setting that is not too crowded
- We also liked the fact that Nagai Park is actually quite huge, giving ample space for the crowds to spread out. Having travelled through Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo, the tourist masses can sometimes get overwhelming and this activity provides a perfect respite.
- Unique and immersive experience
- Seeing all the light displays and how they interact with each other as well as with the visitors was quite a unique experience. There was the integration of different sounds, music, light projections, and a variety of objects to keep you entertained. We enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t only something you can watch, but also something you can touch and play around with.
- Good for photoshoots
- The TeamLab Botanical Gardens experience provides a great place to do an interesting photoshoot. We stood close by the ovoids with the neon lights which created some pretty ethereal photos. It was also fun to shoot around the gigantic egg-like plush balls.
- It is handicap Accessible
- Going around Japan, there seems always be a bunch of escalators and stairs. Fortunately, TeamLab Botanical Gardens is very accessible for wheelchairs as there are proper ramps and paved walkways.
Cons
- The cost of 2000 JPY is expensive
- One of the cons of this experience was the cost. We felt 2000 yen was pretty expensive for a garden full of light displays however, we were able to reduce the cost by purchasing the Klook Pass Kansai. You can purchase from 3-8 activity passes, which can include visiting the Teamlab Botanical Gardens, Osaka Castle, Umeda Sky, and much more, providing discounts of up to 43% off the original price. When we went, we had bought the Klook Pass Kansai with the premium add on of JR West Kansai Area Pass which allowed us to also take the Shinkansens!
- A bit repetitive
- Although the artwork displays at TeamLab were immersive and fun, eventually they all feel a bit repetitive. They are all light displays that moderately interact with you, or the lights blink, but they all eventually seem to behave in the same way.
- Weather-dependent
- Since this is an outdoor venue, we feel it can only be enjoyed when the weather is pleasant. This may limit when you can go and since you usually need to buy the tickets in advanced, there is always the risk that you may end up going on a rainy day.
- Some exhibits do not work properly when crowded
- The exhibits interact when there are visitors around. However at certain times when the area was more crowded, the lights and displays seem to no longer respond to your specific presence. Instead, since there is so much movement around, the orbs and trees would just blink and flash constantly. This detracted a bit from the experience since you did not feel like you were able to properly influence the art.
- Can sometimes be difficult to get tickets if not booked in advance
- This is a popular activity so it can be difficult at times to find the availabilities that you want. For this reason, it is important to book in advance.
- Was not at beautiful as the Naked Sakura Festival in Nijo Castle in Kyoto
- Although we overall enjoyed our experience there, we far preferred the Naked Sakura Festival in Nijo Castle in Kyoto. It also featured light projections but it was a lot more interesting where the displays would showcase an entire story featuring dragons, phoenixes, sakuras, and the castle. The light projections were also cast onto the ancient Nijo Castle, surrounded by the blooming cherry blossoms. This event is however only available during the cherry blossom season close to early April.
Is TeamLab Botanical Gardens worth visiting?
Overall, our feelings about TeamLab Botanical Gardens are mixed. For the price of 2000 yen, we felt like the experience was a bit repetitive and limited in terms of interactivity. This could be an ideal venue to bring your kids though since they can run around and play with the light orbs. For us, we felt like it was an okay experience and if you are short on time during your Japan trip, there are other activities that provide better entertainment.
For example, if you are into nature, doing a day trip to Nara was one of our favourite experiences during our three-week trip in Japan. There we were surrounded by the natural gardens with the beautiful deer, but we also found one of the most tranquil zen cafes where we got to enjoy a delicious matcha cake, and finally we found the best tuna bowl in our entire experience in Japan! What’s more is that Nara can be easily done as a day trip from Osaka!
If you are after doing a photo shoot, then we would instead recommend visiting Kyoto and renting a kimono. This activity is perfect for families and couples where everyone can dress up in the traditional local garment and be surrounded by the ancient buildings. This has become a favourite cultural activity of ours when we travel and we did a similar experience during our 5 days visiting Hoi An in Vietnam where we dressed in their traditional Áo dàis while strolling through the ancient UNESCO town. We loved that experience so when we arrived in Japan, we knew we had to do it again.
If you are curious about how and where to do it in Kyoto, as well as what else to do in Kyoto, check out our Kyoto guide! If you are not heading to Kyoto, then you can also rent a Kimono in Osaka and head over to Osaka castle!
Summary: Is Visiting Teamlab Botanical Gardens worth it?
In summary, we feel like TeamLab Botanical Gardens is not worth visiting if you are very short on time during your visit to Osaka. We preferred experiencing Osaka Castle, doing a sake tasting, or our day trip to Nara. If you are in the planning phase of your Japan trip, and would like to discover something completely off-the-beaten-path, then we would highly recommend checking out doing a roadtrip through Izu Peninsula. Here, you will be surrounded by some of the most stunning coastal landscapes, witness the majestic Mount fuji, and enjoy your evening soaking in the onsens of the ryokans. Japan truly has so much to offer, so with limited time, we feel like you could skip TeamLab Botanical Gardens and instead check out one of the other places we suggested!
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About the author: This post is a guest post by fellow travel bloggers Ryan and Nan. Ryan & Nan are two curious travel storytellers and adventure photographers who started WaylessTravelers to share their passion for travel with the world. Having explored over 35 countries across the globe, from discovering the ancient cave dwellings of Cappadocia to witnessing live volcanic eruptions in Antigua Guatemala, they seek to share their passion for travel planning and photography to help others organize their next adventure.
Ryan & Nan seek authentic culture, adventure, hiking, and venturing off-the-beaten paths to uncover the true marvels of the world.
This looks like an interesting activity, though I think we may prefer to spend that money on a day trip to Nara or other location to spend time in nature.
I love a good, honest review. Since we will be in Japan soon, I found this helpful. While I have heard a lot about TeamLab’s work in Tokyo, this does look cool, but I think we would probably opt for the sake-tasting or Izu Peninsula