The Honolulu Heart Program was initiated to verify reports that men of Japanese ancestry living in the United States had a much higher risk of coronary heart disease and a lower risk of stroke than Japanese men in Japan. The Honolulu Heart Program was actually a component of the larger NI-HON-SAN Study. The NI-HON-SAN Study (from the acronyms Nippon, Honolulu, and San Francisco) was initiated in 1965. The populations under investigation included members of the Honolulu Heart Program as well as men of Japanese ancestry born between 1900 and 1919 and residing in Japan and San Francisco.