I think that's related to how commenters are reacting. The OP sort of implies the only contact he had with instructors was at the beginning of the year when they received their assignment.

I left a comment above about how I left MIT (which doesn't teach as much as it provides an infrastructure for taking tests students use to demonstrate mastery) for a state school (that actually taught the courses offered and provided students with ample lab opportunities.)

I'm now thinking one of the great benefits from being taught by an actual professor (instead of an upper-classman fraternity brother) is that you get a context that is formed over the lifetime of a research career. I learned equations by reading the textbook. But how they were developed, why they were developed, what equations were used before and why they needed better models? I don't think you're going to get that from your fraternity brother.

So... yes... hopefully the UTokyo team had access to the faculty to direct them towards the most fruitful areas of the academic garden. And yes... I think there are some very good CS students out there in the states that could do the same thing. But as I mentioned above, it's great to hear a tale about smart kids working together as a team.