The Tokyo District Court on Thursday refused to recognize a man as the father of a child conceived by in vitro fertilization after he died, calling the reproductive process "unnatural."

The court rejected a suit by a woman living in the Kanto region who had asked for paternal recognition of the girl born in 2003 after successful fertilization with the sperm of her late common-law husband.

It is the second lawsuit in Japan asking for recognition of paternity of a child conceived by in vitro fertilization after the father's death.