Despite its significance, I had to forgo mentioning the source for this passage when contributing my writing to Ogawa's booklet. Now, given this opportunity, I would like to provide citatons and references for the quotation and supplement them with relevant information. Although considerable time has passed since the booklet’s publication, I hope this will serve as a useful reference for those interested.

March 1, 2025
Miyuki Hosoya

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Annotations

This passage is introduced as a quote from Michel Foucault in the book Can Perpetrators Change? ( Kagai-sha wa Kawareru-ka?) (*1) by counselor Sayoko Nobuta. However, based on my research, it does not appear to be directly quoted from Foucault but rather a paraphrase or summarization by Nobuta. The interpretative process behind this phrase is explained in Nobuta’s article, How Do People Become "Active Participants" in Domestic Violence? (DV Hito wa Ikanishite “Tohjisha“ to naruno-ka) (*2). The Foucault’s text referenced is The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: The Will to Knowledge (Historie de la sexualité, I, La volonté de savoir) (*3), where the following passage from Chapter 4, Section 2 is cited:

"Power is not an institution, nor is it a structure; it is not a certain strength that some are endowed with. It is the name given to a complex strategic situation in a given society." (English translation by Robert Hurley)

Nobuta extends this concept, leading to the phrase: "Power is the right to define a situation."

The derivation process is as follows:

"Let us apply this (referring to the Foucault’s passage quoted above) to a family. It is not the act of beating and subduing with force itself that constitutes power. Rather, it is the prohibition against calling it violence and the act of defining it as 'affection' or 'discipline' that constitutes power. The ability to name a situation and to disallow any alternative definitions—this, indeed, is power. In other words, power is the 'right to define a situation.'" (*4)

Additionally, in a note at the end of Nobuta’s article, she states that the concept of the "right to define a situation" owes much to the sociologist Chizuko Ueno. However, it remains unclear how Ueno specifically contributed to the process of rewording the original text.

References

1. Nobuta, Sayoko. Can Perpetrators Change? Chikuma Bunko, 2015, p.111.

2. Nobuta, Sayoko. “How Do People Become ‘Active Participannts’ in Domestic Violence?” Sekai, May 2002 issue, Iwanami Shoten, 2002, pp. 169–179.

3. Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: The Will to Knowledge. Japanese translation by Moriyuki Watanabe, Shinchosha, 1986, pp.120–121.

4. Nobuta, Sayoko. “How Do People Become ‘Active Participannts’ in Domestic Violence?” Sekai, May 2002 issue.