Originally posted by kevinrats
I'm sure they had some type of Animal Cruelty Laws in movies back then.
Actually, even nowadays, there are very little animal cruelty laws in Japan. It's the worst place for animal cruelty when compared to other developed countries.

Edit: Here is a site that explains that Japan doesn't have good laws when it comes to animals. People are virtually allowed to do what they want with them, and I'm assuming that included videos.
http://www.alive-net.net/english/en-law/Oliver.html