Well, Japanese are never disoriented, and that's no occident :-)
I think it had something to do with the emperor facing south when he plants rice seedlings in the spring, one of those royal duties (cf. here), but I wouldn't bet the house on it.
If it's any consolation, the former Mrs C had a similar issue with having to think through directions, and she claimed it was because she never crawled as a toddler before walking, which seemed a reasonable explanation at the time.