Why minelaying submarines could outperform aircraft-carrying boats

Would Japan have been better off building minelaying submarines instead of aircraft-carrying submarines?

Probably, because they could mine American harbors and Pearl Harbor's approaches to create sustained disruption.

Aircraft-carrying submarines offered dramatic but limited strikes. A large minelaying boat could use similar endurance to attack the traffic system on which American naval power depended. Mines laid off West Coast harbors would impose repeated clearance, routing, and readiness costs. A field near Pearl Harbor's entrance could also endanger ships as they tried to sortie after an attack, giving the submarine force a more persistent blockade effect.