Make a Little Extra from Your Artistic Hobby

Note: For this, you are required to have a PayPal account.

  Mount Fuji, spring's sakura, and Osaka castle are a few examples of the breath-taking scenery in Japan. These inspire us, non-photographers, to make an extra effort and take a nice memorable picture.  Sometimes we get very lucky and take a picture that makes the real thing look dull. So, why not use it to make a few extra bucks by selling it as a digital artwork?

  The same also applies to drawings, illustrations, finger paintings, or any other artistic hobby that can be scanned into digital artwork. The image itself does not even have to be that good. Once scanned,  it can be easily edited on any image manipulator software such as Photoshop or Gimp2.  You could sharpen it, brighten it, change it to dramatic colors, pretty much anything you want! After all, it is your artwork.

  Society6.com is an online shop which allows artists to sell their work and be promoted on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter  while doing so.  S6 is in charge of all production and manufacturing. This takes places in USA, California. You, the artist, will have to do the following:

• Create an account on Society6 (there are no requirements - anyone can be an artist)
• Link your PayPal e-mail address to your account 
• Upload your artwork (don't forget to add a good description and meta keywords) 
• Sit back and wait

  This would take place somewhere in Japan. After uploading your work as an art print,  make sure to check the required pixel sizes for each product (t-shirts, mugs, throw pillows, mobile cases, RUGS, etc.)  and re-size that same design accordingly before uploading. It must be exact otherwise it will give you an error.

  I have been selling my work on Society6 for a couple of years now. Everything is and has been very legit. I do receive payments to my PayPal at the beginning of each month. Earnings information will be available in your account.  I also tried to upload my work in other similar websites such as redbubble.com. But it has not been very successful in making a single sale...

 Creativity is something we all human beings have by nature. It is only matter of being creative or not. I do believe that there is a creativity and innovation crisis in all developed and industrialized countries today. I encourage all people to express and practice their creativity. For it does not only replace anger, agitation, stress, etc. but its growth in all of us can lead a society to a much brighter future. But mainly because you get a change to make a few extra bucks!  :D ヘケッ

  Do not be discouraged if you get no earnings the first couple of months for it is normal to take a while. After uploading, you really do not have to do anything else, but if you do want to make a profit from this, like any other job, you would have to invest more time and effort in your artwork and "advertisement".

 Feel free to check my own work at Society6 and to leave a comment or question down below if you have any!

A White Smile for the Peace Sign Pose Picture

   In America, it is commonly known that mixing tooth paste, baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide helps whitening your teeth. Although that is not common knowledge here in Japan one can still easily buy baking soda and hydrogen peroxide.

  In my experience this teeth whitening method does work. I saw great improvement in a couple of weeks. Much faster than when using an expensive tooth paste. Yes, I was deceived by the photo-shopped white smile image on the package.

  To get baking soda, go to your local supermarket and look for 重曹(じゅうそう・juusou). It is usually in the cold products area. I recommend getting the small box from Tansan (タンサン) for it is very cheap and contains more than enough. If there is a cheaper option available you can get that one instead. Just make sure it has the kanji so baking soda (重曹) on the package.

  For hydrogen peroxide look for Oxydol (オキシドール), the most common brand. Make sure it has the complicated kanji for hydrogen peroxide, 過酸化水素(かさんかすいそ・kasankasuiso), under the label. If it is not available at the supermarket you can find it at any drugstore. There are a few bottle sizes available, but the 100ml one is good for a couple of months.

  In total it shouldn't be more that 500 yen. Mix a small of amount of these with your toothpaste once a week and avoid the gums when brushing. Some people add a few drops of lemon juice to the mix, but it is not necessary.  For better and faster results I recommend cutting back on some of the things that can stain and damage your teeth. Such as cigarettes, black coffee/tea, soy sauce, GoGocurry, etc.

  I hope you found this information helpful!  If you have found other alternatives to whiten your teeth please let us know on a comment below!

Sharing is Caring

  Moving to a new country is never easy. Specially to a country such as Japan, where English will be of no help when settling in.  Luckily for us foreigners there are many helpful guides on the Internet to help us through! 

  One can easily find friendly informative guides explaining important issues such as,  "Renovating your alien's card" or "Getting your international driver's license". As you may have guessed by now, most of the people providing this information are foreigners themselves. 

  They have kindly taken it upon themselves to share their life-in-Japan experience and knowledge to help others.  I, for one, am very thankful to them and very much would like to do the same on this blog! 

  After a few years living in Japan I have made many small discoveries that made me feel more at home. For example, finding a new cereal brand that is very similar to the one I had in New York every morning. Or an affordable skin foundation that complemented my skin type.  I would like to share these discoveries with others because sometimes little things like these can make a big difference in our everyday lives.