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Presumably because it's very common in Japan, and not so common elsewhere.

When I was in Japan (July 2015) I was surprised at how common iced coffee was – it felt like every street corner had a vending machine that sold (among other things) iced coffee. You can buy some of it here in SF, too, even at Wallgreens.

For what it's worth, brewing coffee directly over ice is extremely common in Vietnam as well.

I live in Edmonton, which has about 20 Vietnamese restaurants for every Japanese one. I've always known it to be Vietnamese iced coffee, and had no idea it's done in Japan as well. Although here the coffee conventionally drips over a mixture of ice and sweentened, condensed milk. I'm not sure if that's done elsewhere.

As a former barista who lived in Japan for 2 years, I firmly believe it is a matter of marketing.

It's not exclusive to the Japanese because I've been doing this my whole life.

Because we know the Japanese have been doing this since the 1600s. Kyoto is credited with the earliest recorded history of this brewing method.

The Turks and the English were brewing coffee in the 1600s. Could you point me to a source for Kyoto doing iced coffee in the 1600s?