To provide a mobile information terminal capable of simplifying an operation procedure in inputting a character such as a Kana character.

A mobile information terminal comprises: a group selection symbol display unit 22 that displays, on a detection surface, group selection symbols 114a respectively corresponding to plural character groups 212 into which many characters are grouped; a touch panel sensor 11a that detects a down operation, a drawing operation, and an up operation on the detection surface; a character group selection unit 234 that compares the operation position of the first down operation for inputting a character with determination areas 114b on the detection surface respectively corresponding to the group selection symbols 114a to select a character group 212; a character collation unit 237 that collates the trajectory of the drawing operation with each character in the character group 212 selected by the character group selection unit 234; and a handwritten character determination unit 238 that selects a character in the character group 212 as an input candidate based on a collation result.