The Japanese can pre-order the game and get it sent to them the same day the Wii launches.
Nintendo's Japanese site has updated its GameCube games page with information on the GameCube version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Most immediately, there's confirmation that the GC version of the game will be released in a territory outside of North America, something that wasn't entirely certain beforehand.
Here's the skinny on the title's Japanese release details. The game will only be available through Ninendo's online store, and people that want it can put in pre-orders starting on November 6. The cost is the usual price for high-end games--6,800 Yen, tax included--but Nintendo is cutting people a break and offering free shipping. Nintendo will start sending out the game to GameCube owners starting on December 2nd...the same December 2nd in which the Wii hardware launches and the Wii version of Twilight Princess becomes available.
This may frustrate some who wanted the domestic GC game, as Nintendo had just confirmed that it will release on December 13--a month after the U.S. Wii version and a week or two after the Japanese GC version hits. (Then again, we are getting the Wii version of Zelda two weeks before Japan does.) It looks all the Zelda die-hards that insist on playing Twilight Princess on the GameCube will either need to suck it up and wait a month or import and wait only two weeks.
Nintendo has yet to confirm if Twilight Princess will be released as a GameCube game in Europe or other territories outside of Japan or North America.