The Osaka Family Court on Wednesday ordered that a 4-year-old child taken to Japan by its mother be returned to Sri Lanka to live with the father, in accordance with the Hague convention on child abduction.

It's the first such decision by a Japanese court since the country joined the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction in April.

Both parents are Japanese citizens in their 30s and 40s, the father's attorney said.