He cuddles puppies, cycles nonchalantly in shades and lowers his near-naked torso into icy waters. But perhaps less conventionally, Japan’s latest calendar pin-up is no fresh-faced popstar: it’s Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia.
Loft, a Japanese chain of lifestyle stores, has reported that calendars featuring the rugged, blue-eyed Russian president are flying off the shelves and eclipsing even its most popular domestic celebrities.
Sales of official 2019 Putin calendars containing a stream of testosterone-fuelled images of the 66-year-old president were reportedly in Loft’s number one sales spot.
Following closely behind the perhaps unlikely political pin-up were calendars devoted to the thirty-something Japanese actor Kei Tanaka and, in third place, 24-year-old Olympic skating champion Yuzuru Hanyu.
The popularity of the ageing Russian president’s calendars was reportedly fuelled by a surge in self-proclaimed “Putin fans” – mainly young Japanese women apparently seduced by his rugged charms, according to local media including SoraNews24.
One person who is perhaps unlikely to rush out to the nearest Loft store to buy a calendar featuring Mr Putin in all his manly glory is Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe, with the surge in calendar sales sitting a little incongruously with current bilateral relations.
Tensions continue to simmer between Japan and Russia thanks to a decades-long territorial dispute over a chain of islands, which is the reason why the two nations have still not signed a World War Two peace treaty.
Indeed, in the shadow of soaring calendar sales was also news this week that Russia had built new barracks for troops on the disputed island chain, a move likely to anger Tokyo after repeatedly urging Moscow to reduce its military activity in the region.
There are reports that Mr Abe may also visit Russia next month in a push to defuse the territorial dispute stalemate between the two nations and take a step towards signing a post-war peace treaty.