Robot writes in languages it has never seen before (2019)

It doesn't seem to me like they trained it to write Japanese characters, but more broadly to reproduce a drawing or pencil strokes, so I don't think it is extremely surprising.

"Their learning system is split into two distinct models. A “local” model is in charge of what’s going on with the current stroke of the pen—so aiming in the right direction and determining how to end the stroke. And a “global” model is in charge of moving the robot’s writing utensil to the next stroke of the character."

(2019) Paper page: https://www.atsunobukotani.com/robotdrawing