A character display apparatus searches through a cache means for vector font data which match character attributes of a character to be displayed to acquire the vector font data, and, when no vector font data which match the character attributes of the character to be displayed exist in the cache means, acquires the vector font data from a large-volume storage means. If there exists no corresponding luminance image data in the cache means, the character display apparatus acquires luminance image data generated from the vector font data. If there exists no corresponding display image in the cache means, the character display apparatus acquires display character image data generated from the luminance image data. The character display apparatus displays the display image which is thus acquired and which matches the character attributes of the character to be displayed on a display device.