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?
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2015-11-28T08:57:40.620
29509
2015-12-05T04:59:46.350
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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question
grammar subordinate-clauses
Parenthetical Statements in Japanese
I would think you would use parentheses rather than a pair of commas. [This
link from
reddit](https://m.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/1s60h1/when_writing_in_japanese_how_do_you_use/)
has a comment that suggests extra information is written in parentheses, and
is backed up by this statement, [as seen on
Wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%8B%AC%E5%BC%A7):

> 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。
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2015-12-03T02:27:26.227
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answer
Subordinate clauses can, [as mentioned by
rhyaeris](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/29629/11830), 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。
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2015-12-05T04:31:14.043
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answer