it appears that the directional variation you've noticed is simply, as Leebo pointed out in the comments, a matter of regional names vs. directions.

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Japanese/Vocabulary/Direction

technically, the region name 東北 does in fact indicate a direction, as you would not expect to find such a region anywhere but to the east and north. But the "reverse order" of the kanji in its name allows instant clarity as to the fact that what is being discussed is that entire specific region, and not simply something to your personal north east, or just "somewhere in the north east" area of Japan.

A search for information on compass directions in Japanese yields many pages, some simple, and some more helpful. One example of a simple page with a nice graphic:

https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/03/north-west-south-east-cardinal-directions.html

it appears that the directional variation you've noticed is simply, as Leebo pointed out in the comments, a matter of regional names vs. directions.

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Japanese/Vocabulary/Direction

technically, the region name 東北 does in fact indicate a direction, as you would not expect to find such a region anywhere but to the east and north of the country. But the "reverse order" of the kanji in its name allows instant clarity as to the fact that what is being discussed is that entire specific region, and not simply something to your personal north east, or just "somewhere in the north east" area of Japan.

A search for information on compass directions in Japanese yields many pages, some simple, and some more helpful. One example of a simple page with a nice graphic:

https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/03/north-west-south-east-cardinal-directions.html