diff --git a/kombu/serialization.py b/kombu/serialization.py
index 078e510a..96f3ac77 100644
--- a/kombu/serialization.py
+++ b/kombu/serialization.py
@@ -17,6 +17,15 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     cpickle = None
 
+
+if sys.platform.startswith("java"):
+
+    def _decode(t, coding):
+        return codecs.getdecoder(coding)(t)[0]
+
+else:
+    _decode = codecs.decode
+
 if sys.version_info < (2, 6):  # pragma: no cover
     # cPickle is broken in Python <= 2.5.
     # It unsafely and incorrectly uses relative instead of absolute
@@ -117,7 +126,7 @@ class SerializerRegistry(object):
         # Don't decode 8-bit strings or unicode objects
         if content_encoding not in ('binary', 'ascii-8bit') and \
                 not isinstance(data, unicode):
-            data = codecs.decode(data, content_encoding)
+            data = _decode(data, content_encoding)
 
         try:
             decoder = self._decoders[content_type]
diff --git a/kombu/tests/test_compression.py b/kombu/tests/test_compression.py
index 762c8c41..c5a1e801 100644
--- a/kombu/tests/test_compression.py
+++ b/kombu/tests/test_compression.py
@@ -1,14 +1,24 @@
-from kombu.tests.utils import unittest
+from nose import SkipTest
 
 from kombu import compression
+from kombu.tests.utils import unittest
 
 
 class test_compression(unittest.TestCase):
 
+    def setUp(self):
+        try:
+            import bz2
+        except ImportError:
+            self.has_bzip2 = False
+        else:
+            self.has_bzip2 = True
+
     def test_encoders(self):
         encoders = compression.encoders()
         self.assertIn("application/x-gzip", encoders)
-        self.assertIn("application/x-bz2", encoders)
+        if self.has_bzip2:
+            self.assertIn("application/x-bz2", encoders)
 
     def test_compress__decompress__zlib(self):
         text = "The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog"
@@ -18,6 +28,8 @@ class test_compression(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(d, text)
 
     def test_compress__decompress__bzip2(self):
+        if not self.has_bzip2:
+            raise SkipTest("bzip2 not available")
         text = "The Brown Quick Fox Over The Lazy Dog Jumps"
         c, ctype = compression.compress(text, "bzip2")
         self.assertNotEqual(text, c)
diff --git a/kombu/utils/compat.py b/kombu/utils/compat.py
index f86336d4..51736278 100644
--- a/kombu/utils/compat.py
+++ b/kombu/utils/compat.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import sys
+
 ############## __builtin__.all ##############################################
 
 try:
@@ -198,7 +200,13 @@ class CompatOrderedDict(dict, MutableMapping):
         """
         if not self:
             raise KeyError('dictionary is empty')
-        key = (last and reversed(self) or iter(self)).next()
+        if last:
+            if sys.platform.startswith("java"):
+                key = self.keys()[-1]
+            else:
+                key = reversed(self).next()
+        else:
+            key = iter(self).next()
         value = self.pop(key)
         return key, value