diff --git a/Lib/test/test_StringIO.py b/Lib/test/test_StringIO.py
index 33db4ba..8b934ff 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_StringIO.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_StringIO.py
@@ -74,6 +74,12 @@
 class TestcStringIO(TestGenericStringIO):
     MODULE = cStringIO
 
+import sys
+if sys.platform.startswith('java'):
+    # Jython doesn't have a buffer object, so we just do a useless
+    # fake of the buffer tests.
+    buffer = str
+
 class TestBufferStringIO(TestStringIO):
     constructor = buffer