[fhutiussk]

I certainly doubt you could find many/any Japanese people who would look at 士 and think of samurai.

I don't think that's really true. Although it obviously has many other meanings, 士 is the standard character for the warrior caste in 士農工商 . Conversely I think that samurai sounds a bit gung ho and is perhaps excessively used foreigners. I'm quite sure that it doesn't really matter though...