This is so true.
I used to work at a japanese restaurant in my city. A lot of the customer are japanese expat. And they use good miso.
Nowadays, that same miso is so much cheaper in price, but the quality is suffering.
But looking at it another way, you have no choice but to use cheap miso if you don't have a good amount of money. Afterall, the artisanal miso is limited in number. I doubt it will be imported wholesale.