The permanent TeamLab installation at Higashi-Tokorozawa’s Musashino Woods Park features the exact same mildly-interesting, mirrored, schmoo-shaped things they have at TeamLab Planets…
…but at night they will Cinderella your socks off! These mirrored “acorns” glow from within, but also reflect the colors of the lit-up foliage around them.
Here’s the same view a few seconds later…
Then it morphs again…
And again!
The “acorns” change color in response to people wandering nearby or tapping them, and combined with the trees (which also “resonate” with visitors), you feel like you’re walking through an ever-changing rainbow kaleidoscope.
When you bop one, the color change ripples out in all directions, and if there are people on the other side, the wave bounces back and forth. You can see a bit of that effect in this video:
The TeamLab Digitized Lakeside and Forest event I saw a few years ago in Hanno worked on a similar principle, but they’ve improved both the resonating algorithm and the color-changing objects since then.
This installation is smaller in area, but is more densely populated with light-up acorns. The paths also meander more tightly over the forested hillside, so you can enjoy the light show from different angles.
For only ¥1000, this installation delivered an hour and a half of pure entertainment, and every time I made myself put away my camera (“Stop! You have enough photos!”), I’d find it in my hand again ten seconds later, trying to capture the new fleeting beauty.
The color combinations are endless, and all of them are so stunning, it was super hard to pick which photos to include here!
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TeamLab’s “Resonating Life in the Acorn Forest”
Permanent installation
Open: Every day, except 1st, 3rd & 5th Tuesdays each month (unless a holiday falls on that Tuesday—then it will be open on the holiday and closed on the following day)
Hours: 16:00 – 21:00 (last entry 20:30)
Admission: Adults: Mon-Thur ¥1000, Fri-Sun ¥1200
Where: Musashino Woods Park, 3-9 Higashi-Tokorozawa Wada, Tokorozawa-shi, Saitama
You don’t need reservations and you can buy tickets at the gate. It’s a good idea to check the TeamLab Resonating Life in the Acorn Forest website page before going, in case there’s some obscure Japanese holiday that’s not on your radar.
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If you could use more fabulous things lit up at night in your life…
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
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