Generally, as long as the parts of speech which modify the correct elements, placement is rather free, but this order is the most stylistically correct from an academic/grammarian point of view.
Both sound correct but I read them as different meanings.
1. We went to Japan by car 2. In Japan, we went by car
3 comments
Both are fine, Japanese word order is flexible, as long as the verb goes at the end!
Edit: cleared up my response
[This](https://imgur.com/gallery/zdMPQ97) is from the Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar.
Generally, as long as the parts of speech which modify the correct elements, placement is rather free, but this order is the most stylistically correct from an academic/grammarian point of view.
Both sound correct but I read them as different meanings.
1. We went to Japan by car
2. In Japan, we went by car