hm, I have never seen samurai as that superior, the shock I and more general production are nice, but not #2 ( at the moment ) or did i miss there something ?
The other thing is minuteman, even when it is too early to say which place they will take, Imho I see them higher, ignoring terrain costs is nice.
The main advantage of the Samurai that it is the UU of the most powerful unit in the game (LSM). War chariot is way more better than chariot comparing the difference to longsword and samuray. But chariot is weak so the chariot uu is weak.