With our son along for the experience, we journey across Tokyo to find Team Lab. As we wander between office buildings and upscale retail, I am convinced we are lost. Finally, we find the entrance tucked in a remote corner of a very large, sterile mixed use building.

We are directed to put our coats and bags in a locker. There is a timed entry with only twenty people or so admitted at a time. Our cluster of adventurous souls huddles in the entry holding room. We are told, at least by what I am able to understand, that we are entering an immersive and sometimes interactive art space.

It is “Borderless”. There are no routes or directions, but there are many rooms. Some will be hard to find. The digital experiences will change periodically so that we may not recognize a room if we come back to it, even if we have been there before. And we can stay as long as we want. We now have directions and still no idea what we are actually here to see. (I booked based on recommendation of a friend who said we had to come.)

The doors open and we enter a room swirling with flowers. It smells like flowers and sounds like birdsong and bugs and a calming music. The flowers dance and swirl. When I reach for one it transforms into a different bloom. It is mesmerizing.

We follow the flower trail to a field of flowers coming waist high from the floor. It is hard to know where to walk, so I pick my way through. Suddenly the room goes dark and I am standing in a rice paddy. The physical plant structures that stand next to me are the same, but the room looks entirely different. We walk carefully through the field to find a way out into a room of crystals that change color to a musical rhythm.

We follow a marching band of animals down long hallways. We watch a parade of ancient samurai that shimmer like ghosts. We walk through lava fields and take a mind bending walk through outer space. I swear the room is moving and that I am floating even though I know neither can be true.

We visit a magical teahouse. Our tea is served by smiling hosts after we are seated in a long row. A flower grows in my teacup. When I move the cup the petals fall. If I swirl the cup the float away and a new flower grows. This happens again and again until the cups are empty.

We encounter robotic glowing orbs and charging bulls. The largest room simulates a river with a number of waterfalls. When I walk, the “water” puddles around my feet. If I stand still the “water” diverts around me. If I stand under a waterfall, the “water” separates and cascades down my shoulders. What manner of digital witchcraft is this? Even the sounds adapt with appropriate splashing and sloshing.

We roam in and out of seemingly endless experiences. We walk through a wall of mist only to find a ghost army of Ronin walking towards us out of a second wall of mist. I reach for an object and find it is a hologram. I touch a wall and discover it is really thin material. Nothing is as it seems and everything is fantastical.

Eventually we decide we have to leave. We don’t really want to leave, but it is late and we need to eat. So reluctantly, we go.

Generally, we don’t like the “it” places of travel. You may have read my prior blogs about the disappointing experiences we have in the places everyone says you should go. I don’t know if team labs is actually an “it” place. I am not exactly an influencer. But if I were (I cannot believe I am saying this…..), if you ever find yourself in Tokyo, you have to go.