Here are some quick (unfortunately derogatory) comments on VOA's article on Otaku:

Otaku are obsessive fans of comic books, called manga, and cartoon animations, called anime.

I thought the term could be applied to an "obsession" in any field. You could be a manga otaku, an anime otaku, a military otaku, a history otaku, a train otaku, a computer otaku, a video game otaku, etc.

Sandra Shoji is an instructor of humanities at Toyo Gakuen, a Tokyo university, and has studied the otaku phenomenon. "They represent the new recreational majority among young people," she says. "They're very much into anime, or animated films, they're inspired by comic books, and they seem to have problems watching anything over the length of about 15 minutes."

Aren't most anime longer than 15 minutes? Most episodic animes I know are around 30 minutes, with feature length films (e.g. My Neighbour Totoro, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, just to name a few) are 1.5 to 2 hours. This is just like every other (non-anime) TV show and feature film.

Sociologists in Japan say the otaku culture caters to the needs of people, especially Japanese men, who are not able to relate to human beings on a deep level, and may lack communication skills.

It sounds like the author is mixing up the concepts of introverts, geeks, nerds, autistics, people with aspergers syndrome, people with ADHD, etc. all into one big lump, and labeling that lump "Otaku".

Labeling is not inherently bad: It's a form of communication, just like any other. However, this particular form of labeling (calling all of the above Otaku) will probably cause more misunderstanding than enlightenment, and so I do not approve of it.

Those who study the otaku trend say the phenomenon will not disappear anytime soon.

What phenomenon? The phenomenon of people liking anime? The phenomenon of people willing to pay to be pampered? The phenomenon of people not enjoying socializing with others? (See, this is why the massive lumping is undesirable -- it conflates issues which makes discussion more difficult).

I don't see why "sociologists" would expect people to stop liking animated drawings anymore than why they'd expect people to stop liking live-action cinema, or theater or literature.

I don't see why "sociologists" would expect people to stop be willing to pay in exchange for being pampered.

I don't see why "sociologists" would expect introverts to suddenly become extrovert, autistics, people with asperger's or ADHD to suddenly become neurotypical, or for geeks and nerds to give up their "obsessions" and become football players, or whatever it is these sociologists expect them to do with their spare time instead of enjoying their lives as they are.

On a semi related note, check out this interesting (though I don't always agree with it) article on how introverts are not particularly interested in becoming extroverts, and how extroverts are unable to understand this, and believe it must be due to some flaw in an introvert's mental processes: the article.