In the Diet, ministers often answer with a set phrase: kotae o sashihikaeru, to refrain from answering. A researcher at Ritsumeikan University counted 16 versions of the phrase in the Diet records. They appeared 7 times in 1970 and 580 times at the peak, in 2018.
According to Kyodo News, Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide gave such answers 67 times in the budget committees of both houses in the session that closed on December 5, 2020. These figures come from a written question by an opposition member, who criticized such answers as refusals to explain.