"…enshrine a whole bunch of made up kami and mythological figures from European folklore…" — from a comment made about the shi-yaku-jin no hokora.

Disregarding the fact that it's false — local versions of all their enshrined kami are also enshrined in Japan and there is no pan-European folklore as implied; although the figure of Baba Yaga does exist in a number of different Slavic folklores — what's most disturbing about this statement is the lack of respect for other traditions it displays.

There's nothing particularly wrong about being "made up". Every single religious practice in existence was made up at some point — usually to solve a problem at the time.

Creativity is hardly the death knell of religion, but rather a source through which it renews itself and makes it relevant to the current times and issues. New religions and new versions of old religions are being created all the time. Every religion being practiced today was itself new once.

Nor is somebody else's mythology automatically wrong.

Myths are a culture's stories about why things are the way they are and how they came to be so; about how one should or should not act. Myths support cultural mores. Myths are always "true" within their cultural context.

Myth, or more specifically other peoples' myths, does not equal "false". It's only when they're pulled out of context for "comparision", usually by some one antithetical to that culture, that they become "false".

A kami is anything which inspires feelings of: reverence, awe, gratitude, or fear / terror. From a shintô point of view, kami are both mythic and real, and other cultures' mythic figures are kami and real. The kami of Europe, or the Americas, or Australia, or Africa are just as deserving of our respect as the Japanese kami, and their mythologies shouldn't be discounted.

Remember, respect comes from understanding and empathy. It doesn't mean you have to agree with or follow the other group's practices, just understand them.

To act ethically, you do have to allow them to "show up at the table". Ultimately, if you can't respect another's practices, traditions, and mythology, how well can you respect your own?