I'm suffering the same crashes too on my UK system; freezes when I try to buy the new games and also when holding R to scroll more quickly through the Plaza Miis.
They've added the ability to Hire Old Allies to the first StreetPass Quest though so no more random chance with wanderers hoping for a white shirt for that dark room. Managed to beat it last night with 27 heroes, nabbing that accomplishment for less than 30 heroes used. Not that they mean anything, but still.
Holding R also fast-forwards the ending speech more quickly than before. I assume it'll do the same thing for the intro too.
Oh, and when hiring old allies you don't have to scroll for ages through the plaza; pressing X allows you to filter by level and colour, which is much better.
I hope they patch the crashes soon.
