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by wlerin 459 days ago
While it is true that basic sentence components like direct objects or phrases that modify the verb can be moved around without changing the meaning of the sentence in Japanese, there is a very strict head-final requirement for phrases and dependent clauses that modify nouns that makes larger sentences, especially heavily nested ones like the OP's example, virtually guaranteed to flow the opposite direction of the equivalent sentence in English.

Said example contains two dependent clauses, one inside the other. In English, dependent clauses and phrases come after the noun they modify ("suit [that] I saw", "shop that is"), while in Japanese they must come before (「見たスーツ」, 「あるお店」). Thus the resulting translation is an exact mirror of the original. This head-finality opposing head-initiality is the main reason Japanese sentences tend to flow in the opposite direction of English ones, rather than simply SOV vs SVO.

(The same also applies to the order of words within ホテルのむかいに vs. across the street from the hotel, I just don't know of a convenient single phrase to describe both constructions).