teamLab Future Park Okinawa: Why It Knocks the Socks Off Tokyo Disneyland
- pwoldow
- Jun 22
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 11
The title of Monty Python's whimsical 1971 movie captures it perfectly: And Now for Something Completely Different.
If you're looking for a truly magical experience in Japan, skip the costly banalities of Tokyo Disneyland. Instead, make your way to the third floor of the upscale DFS Okinawa Naha Duty-Free Shopping Center in Naha, Okinawa. Show your ticket reservation at the reception desk of teamLab Future Park Okinawa, enter a long, dark, somewhat scary-looking passageway—and prepare to be completely blown away.
While you'll encounter plenty of delighted children (and their joy adds to the atmosphere), this immersive digital art experience is equally captivating for adults. We spent hours completely absorbed in the collaborative creativity and technological artistry—no kids required.
You'll step into an enormous shadowy high-ceilinged space—a kind of glowing, dreamlike meadow—with bright stripes of light rippling across deep blue walls and a soft, gently rolling floor that invites visitors to stop, drop, roll and laugh uproariously as streams of projected bubbles flow over and around them.
Alive with bright neon-esque colors, motion, and mysterious shapes that magically appear and disappear—a multi-colored whale drifting alongside a giant mammoth amidst streamers of jellyfish-like light—your first impression makes you wonder: Where am I? Am I under the sea? Have I been transported to some unique parallel universe? Despite all the strange creatures and unexpected bursts of light, the overall vibe is warm and happy, filled with laughter from visitors of all ages.
As you pause to take this in, the moment you stand still, a little band of flowers suddenly encircles your feet and begins spinning gaily to greet you, only to disappear the moment you move. How did they know I was here? you wonder. You know this is all being done with sophisticated computers, but it all seems to happen like magic.
The Ultra-Technologists Behind the Magic
teamLab describes itself as "an international art collective, an interdisciplinary group of artists formed in 2001 in Tokyo"—artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects who call themselves "ultra-technologists." Using EPSON-based technology, teamLab creates installations seeking "a new form of perception," with venues like teamLab Planets TOKYO gaining international recognition.
But teamLab Future Park Okinawa adds its own unique purpose, describing itself as "an educational project based on the concept of collaborative creation (co-creation). It is an amusement park where people can enjoy creating the world freely with others."
But let's be clear: this isn't an amusement park like Tokyo Disneyland, where visitors sit passively in rides designed by others. It's a fully immersive experience where visitors shape their own reality and express their creativity, often collaboratively with others—a sophisticated interplay of art, technology, and human imagination that resonates deeply with adults.
Different Worlds, Different Experiences
Surrounding the large open meadow, which teamLab calls "Graffiti Nature in a Beating Valley—Symbiotic Lives," are distinctly different spaces, each offering its own immersive world and approach to creativity.
Sliding Through the Fruit Field is where "you become the sunlight and slide down the slope." When your body collides with water balls and honey bee balls, your energy transfers to them, sending them flying in all directions. In plain English: your ride down triggers explosions of starbursts and color, creating the impression that your movement is making it all happen.
In the Light Ball Orchestra, a warm musical hum pulls you into a room filled with large balls of changing pastel colors on the floor and floating from the ceiling. Touch one ball, and surrounding balls respond, changing the color of the entire space. Roll the ball in front of you, and it changes color and releases sound. You are directing the orchestra, composing light, sight and sound.
Hopscotch for Geniuses: Bounce on the Water offers a dense "water floor" of shapes and colors. As visitors step on various squares, triangles and circles, they generate flashing schools of fish, jellyfish, birds, butterflies, stars...and the occasional giraffe or wolf. We watched people of all ages spinning and exploring the space with childlike wonder, and then we broke into our own hopscotch gallop.
The Joy of Collaborative Creation at teamLab Okinawa
The two most rewarding experiences draw you deeply into collaborative creative activity, making each child the author of what others see.
In A Musical Wall Where Little People Live, visitors first seat themselves at craft benches and create drawings of animals, plants and shapes from their imagination. These are then scanned and translated into projections that flow around the room's four high walls alongside hundreds of other visitors' creations. Over and again, we heard squeals of delight from young artists: "Mom! That's mine! Look, look, I made that!" But adults were equally enchanted, watching their own creations come to life and interact with the flowing, collaborative universe. Standing in this room and witnessing this collective creativity was a uniquely moving experience.
A Table Where Little People Live is a round table that responds to whatever a child places on it—a hand, a toy, any shape. Depending on the object, an army of little figures suddenly appears, sliding, jumping, climbing ladders, riding tiny sheep, dodging explosions of stars and waterfalls. This sends a powerful message: "The scene in front of me exists because I'm who I am."
And Now for Something Really Completely Different
We encountered the richest and most intellectually complex experience last:
Dark Chinese symbols used historically in fortunetelling are projected onto the walls and cascade slowly downward. When touched, these symbols morph explosively into large phantom shapes—a child, a massive white mammoth, a green mountain range, a huge purple and white horse, baying wolves. These shapes blend and interact with each other, and with every symbol touched, a new story is born: a bird lands in a tree, wolves retreat toward distant mountains, a sheep dances as a child approaches.
Visually captivating, these evolving stories create a surprisingly powerful emotional pull, conjuring the interdependence of all living things across time. We saw a small girl, probably no older than five, reach out tentatively to touch a symbol on the wall. When it morphed instantly into a bright orange howling dog, she looked down at her hand in astonishment: Did I do that?
Watching her discover this magic, we felt what the Japanese call natsukashii - that bittersweet rush of recognition when the present moment suddenly reconnects you with something precious from your past. Here we were, touching ancient symbols that burst into mythical creatures, and suddenly we were five years old again, believing that touching the right thing in the right way could make magic happen. The technology was sophisticated, but the wonder was timeless - the same wide-eyed amazement we'd felt as children when the world seemed full of hidden doors waiting to be opened.
Visitor Information
DFS Okinawa Naha City 3F, 4-1 Omoromachi, Naha-shi, Okinawa
Tel: 0120-782-460 (10:00-20:00)
Open: 10:00-20:00; Closed every third Thursday
Admission:
Adults (18+): ¥2,000
Ages 13-17: ¥1,400
Ages 4-12: ¥1,200
Advance reservation and ticket purchase required
Important Notes: The exhibition space is dark with uneven footing in many places. Appropriate footwear required (no high heels or open-toed shoes). Wheelchair and service dog accommodations available.
© 2025 Zen Gaijin. This content is original research and may not be reproduced without permission.