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I'm wondering how you would use parenthetical statements in Japanese. In English, commas are used, as in the sentence:
Tanaka-san is, for obvious reasons, a good person.
He took the train to work, as most people do.
How would I make this type of addition to a sentence in Japanese where it doesn't change the overall meaning, but rather sits as a side comment? Are commas still appropriate, and where in the sentence should I put this?
Subordinate clauses can, as mentioned by rhyaeris, be put inside parentheses. This is useful if you want to allow the reader to be able to skip the information within the parentheses.
However, there are many ways to structure a sentence in Japanese, and depending on media, some might be more suitable than others (think: some media call for more formal writing; speaking and writing are different; etc.) Depending on the length of the sentence and number of clauses, you might not want to use parentheses at all.
Are commas still appropriate, and where in the sentence should I put this?
Yes. They are not always necessary, but if you decide to use them, you should place them to separate the clauses.
Here are some examples on how you can phrase the example sentences without using parentheses:
Tanaka-san is, for obvious reasons, a good person.
いうまでもないが、田{た}中{なか}さんはいい人だ。
He took the train to work, as most people do.
ほとんどの人のように、電{でん}車{しゃ}で通{つう}勤{きん}している。
I would think you would use parentheses rather than a pair of commas. This link from reddit has a comment that suggests extra information is written in parentheses, and is backed up by this statement, as seen on Wikipedia:
説明文自体または読み飛ばせる追記事項などを書く場合がある。
