Foucault was distinctly western in that he traced certain lines
of particularly western thought. It isn't clear (maybe: it is
implausible) that, for example, his tracing of western
conceptions of madness across centuries has much relevance
to a Japanese (other than indirectly, via ... let's crudely call
it colonialism -- you know what i mean, at least; or perhaps
by poetic metaphor).
But his mode of thought -- his relating of disciplines of discourse
to material conditions; his identification of reasonable boundaries
that define disciplines; his contemplation of how disciplines interact
and develop and condition one another; his tracing out of historical
progression of discourse -- that mode of thought might "translate,"
so to speak. Does it lead you to pose useful questions, where you
are?
http://foucault.info/foucault/interview.html
-t