The short-lived Republic of Ezo is proclaimed in the Ezo area of Japan. It is the first attempt to establish a democracy in Japan.

The Ezo Island Government , also known as the Republic of Ezo , was a short-lived separatist state established in 1869 on the island of Ezo, now Hokkaido, by a part of the former military of the Tokugawa shogunate at the end of the Bakumatsu period in Japan. It was the first government to attempt to institute democracy in Japan, though voting was limited to the samurai caste. The Republic of Ezo existed for five months before being annexed by the newly established Empire of Japan.