A Japanese woman who said she hid her mother's corpse in a freezer in her apartment for a decade told police she feared eviction if the death was discovered, media reported Saturday.

Police told AFP that Yumi Yoshino, 48, was held "on suspicion of abandoning and hiding a female body" found Wednesday inside the freezer in a Tokyo apartment.

Yoshino said she hid the body 10 years ago because she "didn't want to move out" of the home she shared with her mother, after finding her dead, local media reported, citing unnamed police sources.

The mother, thought to be aged around 60 at the time of her death, was named on the lease of the apartment in a municipal housing complex, Kyodo News said.

Yoshino had been forced to leave the apartment in mid-January after missing rent payments, the reports said, and a cleaner discovered the body in a freezer hidden in a closet.

An autopsy could not determine the time and cause of woman's death, the reports said.