1. A character recognition apparatus comprising: a processor configured to: extract a plurality of strokes from a recognition target; extract noise candidates from the plurality of strokes; generate a plurality of recognition result candidates obtained by removing at least one of the noise candidates from the recognition target; perform character recognition on the plurality of recognition result candidates and calculate recognition scores for each of the plurality of recognition result candidates; and use the recognition scores to specify a most likely recognition result candidate from the plurality of recognition result candidates as a recognition result.