New Delhi, Feb. 2 -- A Pokemon card game event planned for Saturday at a controversial shrine to Japan's war dead has been canceled and the Pokemon Company apologized for posting an event notice on its website following a backlash from China, as tensions between the two sides escalated.

The Yasukuni Shrine honors Japan's 2.5 million war dead, including convicted war criminals. Countries that were targets of Japanese aggression, especially China and the Koreas, see visits to the shrine as showing a lack of remorse about Japan's wartime past.

The event attracted a sharp response from Chinese state media, where editorials cited angry comments trending on social media. China's social media environment is highly censored, and the government ...