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Remnants of geomancy (earth divination) were introduced into Japan from China, including the superstition that a northeasterly orientation invites bad spirits (depending on which version of Sheng Shui you subscribe to).
Whether or not you're into Feng Shui, this superstition is understandable to a certain extent. Both China and Japan are in the northern hemisphere, where a south-facing room is warmer. Warm good, cold bad.
People living in Australia or anywhere else in the southern hemisphere have the opposite situation, where north-facing rooms are warmer. So the superstition there advises people to sleep facing north. However, since 88% of the world's population live in the northern hemisphere, lots of northern-oriented superstitions have reached the south. Most confusing, especially for immigrants from the north.
And people living on the equator probably spend all night switching from one orientation to the other.
Canthigaster rivulata is the Latin name of a type of pufferfish. In English it's commonly known as 'brown-lined puffer'. In Japanese it's commonly known as 'fugu', and also called 'kitamakura' because this pillow-shaped fish is deadly poisonous.