Japan Animal Welfare Act (動物愛護管理法) — Cruelty Prohibition (虐待の禁止)
Source: 動物の愛護及び管理に関する法律 (Act on Welfare and Management of Animals, 1973 Law No.105), full statute text from laws.e-gov.go.jp, on disk as pdf-raw/jp-animal-welfare/animal_welfare_act_full.txt. The original-language text — not the English translation — is the verified C1 claim.
This P2 topic records the statutory prohibition of cruelty to protected animals (愛護動物). Cruelty is both a general duty (Art 2 basic principle) and a punishable offence (Art 44).
Claims (verified C1 substrings of source_file — original verbatim; English in parentheses)
愛護動物をみだりに殺し、又は傷つけた者は、五年以下の拘禁刑又は五百万円以下の罰金に処する。(EN: Whoever wantonly kills or injures a protected animal is punishable by up to 5 years' imprisonment or a fine up to 5,000,000 yen — Act Art 44(1).)動物が命あるものであることにかんがみ、何人も、動物をみだりに殺し、傷つけ、又は苦しめることのないようにするのみでなく、人と動物の共生に配慮しつつ、その習性を考慮して適正に取り扱うようにしなければならない。(EN: Recognising animals as living beings, no person may kill, injure, or cause suffering to animals without due reason, and must handle them properly with regard to their nature — Act Art 2(1) basic principle.)