farmers

If this is what Japanese farmers look like, you can stick me on a train to the nearest country town.

2017 is about to become a lot more handsome with the Nōgyō Danshi Calendar (Farming Men Calendar), a wall calendar that shows off the hardworking – and single – men in the Youth League of Farmers in the Kanto region (Tokyo, Chiba, Yamanashi, Nagano, Ibaraki, Gunma and Saitama Prefectures).

Gentlemen both cute and handsome adorn the 12-page spread, all of them specializing in different crops, and it is available for 1,500 yen (US$13) exclusively on Amazon Japan.

The Nōgyō Danshi Calendar‘s official site features each of the 12 farmers with a short profile. You can view bonus video interviews with each handsome harvester by scanning the QR code on your calendar. A few of them are available for viewing on Facebook as well. For now, we’d like to introduce some of the farmers to you.

▼ Bachelor Number One is Yuta Yatagai of Tochigi Prefecture. He’s 22 years old, specializes in growing strawberries, and enjoys activities such as surfing and leather work in his free time. You can find him on the January page.

yutafarmer

▼ Bachelor Number Two is 28-year-old Kosuke Momose. He works in rice paddies and watermelon patches in Nagano Prefecture. When he’s not farming, he’s apt to practice calligraphy or skateboard. How’s that for varied interests?

kousukefarmer

▼ Bachelor Number Three is Masashi Yoshida, a 29-year-old farmer working the fields in Saitama Prefecture. His specialty? Pears and onions. This poster child for the month of August enjoys tickling the ivories (like, the piano ivories) and going for leisurely drives in his spare time.

masashifarmer

While their looks and personalities may be vastly different, all of the farmers in the Nōgyō Danshi Calendar share one goal: revitalize the farming industry in Japan. In recent years the number of workers in agriculture has dramatically decreased, as youths more often opt to work office jobs in larger cities such as Tokyo and Osaka.

Organizations such as JA Youth and tractor-manufacturing company Yanmar have tried a variety of methods to boost interest in the farming industry, such as introducing high-end Japanese farmer fashion, creating the “coolest tractor ever,” as well as giving Kiyoto Saito, the world’s best dressed farmer, some publicity. We’d like to think creating a calendar of good-looking farmers in Japan gives everyone a little something to enjoy all year round.

Most men will give you heart-shaped chocolates, but only Japanese farmers can grow you heart-shaped watermelons. Perhaps one such talented stud is hidden within the pages of the Nōgyō Danshi Calendar.

Sources: Nōgyō Danshi Calendar Official Site via Genxy
Images: Nōgyō Danshi Calendar Official Site