Even after the sun goes down,
bright lights remain all across the Earth.

We might be able to play outside a little longer,
and perhaps do a little more.

But should the night really be so bright?

As our day comes to an end,
another day is beginning somewhere else on Earth.

Bats take to the sky,
and owls begin to search for food.
Small insects that hid away during the day
start to emerge.

To us, night may feel like the end of the day.
But for some living things,
it is the beginning.

And animals are not the only ones
waiting for night.

Some flowers open their petals after the sun goes down,
and moths and other insects, drawn by their scent,
carry pollen from one flower to another.

For a very long time,
countless forms of life on Earth have lived
with the rhythm of day and night.

Some wait for the sun to rise.
Others wait for it to set.

We often think of night
as the time when light disappears.

But night is not an empty time.

It is a time when countless lives,
hidden from our eyes during the day,
begin to live in their own ways.

The Earth needs daylight.
And it needs darkness, too.

Countless living things
wake and rest in their own time.

Perhaps this is how the Earth
keeps its balance—
somewhere between light and darkness.

And when night comes,
we close our eyes, too.

While we sleep,
what kind of world is beginning on Earth?

IYAKI