The other day, a certain thought happened to cross my mind (yes, while I was taking a shower ) which made me wanna ask how otakus in your country behave as well as how they are viewed by society.
Here in Greece, otakus are not the shut-ins that are usually seen in anime. In fact they, more often than not, act completely normal, have lots of friends, socialise a lot etc (and they don't hide the fact that they like anime most of the time). This applies to both teens and adults. 99% of the otakus I've met are actually just as normal as everyone else (no, I'm not included). A great example is my brother. He likes watching anime (although not as much as I do ) and is a semi-hardcore gamer but still, he's very popular and you'll often see him at some party with his friends on Saturday nights. He also manages to have really good grades...somehow... ._. (it's actually kinda amazing how he does this). To be honest, while I'm somewhat closer to how the stereotype otaku is depicted, I'm more like the odd one out among the other otakus here. Seriously...
This is probably why otakus are not viewed negatively by the majority of non-otakus. I've never been shy about admiting I watch anime and the reactions I get are usually indifference instead of negativity. There are those, however, who consider anime a piece of trash but again, they are mature enough to state their opinion politely, limitting themselves to a simple 'it's just not my cup of tea'. In all my life, I've never seen anyone being laughed at just because they watch anime. It's something that most people brush off as unimportant. There have been cases when one is talking s**t about anime but it's directed to anime, not the person who watches it (for example: "I hate anime cause all the characters look the same and they have these stupid big eyes and make all kinds of weird expressions).
This is pretty much the situation with otakus. Even I, who spends as much time as possible in soltitude, have frends and talk with people (in class only but still... ). In the end, it's not so much of a big deal as it is for the Japanese, apparently.