1. A handwritten character recognition apparatus having a character string input area of a size that allows a plurality of characters to be handwritten thereon for a user to input a handwritten character string, comprising: a coordinate string detection unit operable to detect a coordinate string of each stroke that makes up an input handwritten character string, an input completion judgement unit operable to judge, when a first coordinate of one of the strokes is detected in a first area which is at a side of the character string input area where writing of the handwritten character string starts, whether an input of an immediately preceding handwritten character string is complete, and a segmentation recognition unit operable to segment, when the input completion detection unit judges the input to be complete, stroke strings for each character from all the strokes of the immediately preceding handwritten character string, recognize each character, and output a character string which is a recognition result.