I know what you mean about the date. Even though I'm from the U.S., I always give my DOB as day/month/year. I got into this habit from many years in the military. It really confuses the locals, mainly medical facilities and pharmacies where they verify your identity by DOB. Sometimes I have to chuckle at the looks of consternation as they try to translate it into 'murican.
I may pick up a Japanese version since I already own a few 3Ds types in that language. I bought them from Amazon only because I'm a bit of a collector of DSs. A very minor collector. My knowledge of several languages is limited to the necessary (at one time) requirement to order a beer.
No, but it would be nice to have the NA version since it has more holidays than the EU one. Either way, I'm not going to buy a new copy this far into the game's release. That and I don't have any need for a 3rd town anyway. As nice as it'd be to be able to experience new holidays!
I've recently purchased the Japanese version and am waiting for it to arrive. I have a Japanese 3DS because I already have some other Japanese games and would like more. It's a good way to practice, especially since my main focus right now is vocabulary.
I received both a Japanese 3DS and a Japanese copy of New Leaf for my birthday a few months ago, and I'm really enjoying it so far. Most of the dialogue is pretty much the same as the English version, but there are some differences especially when villagers ask about food. And I love the original Japanese names for the villagers. The Japanese holidays are really interesting, too. Plus, there's still post office DLC in Japan, which is pretty cool but quite unfair for the rest of the world. lol