1. An image processing apparatus comprising a character region identification portion identifying a character region of read image data obtained by reading an input image, said character region identification portion including an isolated point detection portion for detecting an isolated point of said read image data, an isolated point removal portion for making a replacement of image data at a point of detection result by said isolated point detection portion, an edge identification portion performing edge identification of the read image data from which an isolated point is removed, and a character region specification portion specifying a character region of said read image data after said edge identification.