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In the textbook [Japanese for Busy People I](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Japanese-
Busy-People-Version-
Series/dp/4770030096/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342016687&sr=8-1), the order of
the elements in a sentence is always the same (subject - when - with whom - by
what means - to where - verb) at least as far as I have made it. Like so:

> スミスさんは あした かいしゃの ひとと おおさかししゃに いきます。
>
> スミスさんは きのう ひとりで おおさかししゃに いきました。
>
> スミスさんは きんようびに チャンさんと しんかんせんで おおさかに いきました。

Is this order always the same in the Japanese language or is it is a
specificity of my textbook in order to better synthesize each element that
composes the sentence?

From what I understand, the first sentence could be translated into English
with variations in the order of the elements:

> Mr. Smith is going to the Osaka branch office with a colleague tomorrow.
>
> Tomorrow, Mr. Smith is going to the Osaka branch office with a colleague.
>
> Mr. Smith is going with a colleague to the Osaka branch office tomorrow.

Can these variations occur in Japanese as well? Or does the sentence have to
have the order displayed above?

Please reply in kana, as I do not know any kanji.
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nuances syntax word-order
Sentence structure/element order
I think the emphasis is on the part with closest proximity to the main verb
for the Japanese sentences.

As noted by Chocolate's comment:

>   * スミスさんは かいしゃのひとと おおさかししゃに **あした** いきます has an emphasis on あした.
>   * スミスさんは ひとりで おおさかししゃに **きのう** いきました has an emphasis on きのう.
>

I think there are differences with English as well. The first sentence you
provided seems neutral, the second one has some emphasis on "tomorrow" and the
third one has some emphasis on "with a colleague". This is what I feel.

For the extent of difference in Japanese sentences, my intuition says that
there are changes, but not as dramatic as you may think they are. Even in
English the nuances are not just determined by order within the sentence, but
also by cues such as type of words used (if they carry connotations),
tonality, volume, body language et cetera.
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If you compare the corresponding verbs in different languages, they all have
the same hierarchical structure. What make difference at the surface include
the following factors:

1) The hierarchical structure-to-word order mapping is different among
languages. The most basic word order in Japanese and English that corresponds
to the first example are

> [あした[スミスさんが[かいしゃのひとと[おおさかに いきます]]]]  
>  [[Mr. Smith is [[going to Osaka] with a collegaue]] tomorrow]

Notice that the elements are combined together in the same order: first the
verb and destination, next with means, with whom, and so on, but since the two
languages have different mapping rules from the hierarchical structure to the
word order, they appear differently.

2) Phrases can be moved around by various rules, which give word order
variations.

  * Your second English sentence is derived by moving `tomorrow` to the front by a rule called _topicalization_. Your third English sentence is derived by moving `to the Osaka branch office` to the right of the verb phrase before `tomorrow` by a rule called _heavy NP shift_.
  * Japanese has a rule called _scrambling_ in addition to _topicalization_. Your first Japanese sentence is derived by topicalizing `スミスさんが` and moving it to the front. If you apply scrambling, you get 4 factorial = 24 different word orders including the following ones:

> スミスさんが あした かいしゃのひとと おおさかに いきます  
>  おおさかに あした スミスさんが かいしゃのひとと いきます  
>  おおさかに スミスさんが あした かいしゃのひとと いきます

but sentences like

> あした かいしゃのひとと スミスさんが おおさかに いきます

are not preferred because they are ambiguous.
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Comment from personal experience:

JNat: I cannot add to the technical explanations but I started learning
Japanese with "Japanese for Busy People" in my own country, completing the
second half after I arrived in Japan.

If you are anything like me and at the same stage I was then, it might be
encouraging to know that a few months after mastering the basics you give in
your question, this structure and its variances/nuances will _passively_
become second nature as you continue your studies.

(None the less, this is a good question. Even today as I flick through model
sentences in Anki for JLPT N1 , changing the word order sometimes stimulates
my interest and make them easier to remember.)
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