Japanese gamers can look forward to playing the demo of Resident Evil 5 this year. According to Capcom’s blog the Xbox 360 demo for Resident Evil 5 will be available in Japan on the 5th of December.

Other perhaps even more interesting news is that Resident Evil 5 will be released early in Japan. The game’s release date has been moved up one week to the 5th of March due to development “proceeding faster than predicted.”

Before you get too excited, Resident Evil 5 will not be released early in North America and Europe, it will still be released on Friday the 13th of March 2009. We can also expect a demo for both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game but these will only land in North America a bit later than the Japanese demo.

Capcom promised more details on the demos soon so keep your ear to the ground. Until then read our Resident Evil 5 preview or check out these scary screenshots and trailer.