New Delhi: In what may be termed as an out and out unexpected event, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s iconic calendar is outselling all the leading local celebrities in Japan. The calendar showing him performing a range of activities such as riding a horse, cuddling a dog and bathing shirtless in frigid temperatures has found an unusual fanbase in the country.

The calendars featuring 66-year-old Russian strongman performing, have been selling like hotcakes in the popular Japanese store Loft, Japan Today reported. The chain store has exclusive rights to sell the calendars in the Asian nation. As per reports, the store has said they are even outselling those featuring other popular local celebrities.

The authorised store Loft began selling Putin’s calendar for 2019 in September itself. It went on to give a tough fight to the sale of calendars featuring Kei Tanaka – a popular Japanese actor and even Yuzuru Hanyu an Olympic figure skating champion and even outsold those.

Media reports from Japan have claimed that many of the people including women have felt compelled by the unconventional style of the Russian President and have an urge of knowing his other dimensions apart from Kremlin.