Looking for the Old Web

I finished watching Long Way Round while waiting for new episodes of Long Way Up. The adventure travel reminded me a lot of blogs I used to read when I was in high school¹ and college² and dreaming of studying abroad in Japan and living in Japan in general.

In those days, we'd blog, maybe post a bad photo or two, and commented on each others' sites. Nobody knew each other in real life, but, over time, you'd get a real sense of community. You were of course following the posts, but there were also a regular cast of commenters that you'd also get a sense of knowing. It felt authentic...and innocent.

Why can't we have this today - but on larger scale? How would you even find these sites on the modern web? Everything is hidden behind "the algorithms" and or paid for by a marketing campaign. Can you even find them?

¹ Sushicam.com was a great photo blog by a guy living in Japan. I used to have a few prints of his and also bought his old Canon 10D - until my parents said "If you have enough money to buy a camera, you have enough money to pay rent".
² Justin Klein was a great blog from a traveling programmer. Not just Japan, but all over the world.