diff --git a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/bidi/TestAll.java b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/bidi/TestAll.java
index b2d302be24f..2c831f4af51 100644
--- a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/bidi/TestAll.java
+++ b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/bidi/TestAll.java
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+//##header
 /*
 *******************************************************************************
 *   Copyright (C) 2001-2007, International Business Machines
diff --git a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/duration/DataReadWriteTest.java b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/duration/DataReadWriteTest.java
index 003944540de..e523e5a9ff3 100644
--- a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/duration/DataReadWriteTest.java
+++ b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/duration/DataReadWriteTest.java
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ public class DataReadWriteTest extends TestFmwk {
 
   // strip line ends and trailing spaces
   private String normalize(String str) {
-    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+    StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
     boolean inLine = true;
     for (int i = 0; i < str.length(); ++i) {
       char c = str.charAt(i);
diff --git a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/duration/LanguageTestRoot.java b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/duration/LanguageTestRoot.java
index 58b119fa33c..238f241177e 100644
--- a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/duration/LanguageTestRoot.java
+++ b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/dev/test/duration/LanguageTestRoot.java
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ public class LanguageTestRoot extends TestFmwk implements TimeUnitConstants {
   }
 
   protected static String timestring(Period ts) {
-    StringBuilder buf = new StringBuilder();
+    StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer();
     if (ts.isMoreThan()) {
       buf.append("mt");
     } else if (ts.isLessThan()) {
@@ -183,12 +183,12 @@ public class LanguageTestRoot extends TestFmwk implements TimeUnitConstants {
   }
 
   protected static String asciify(String s) {
-    StringBuilder sb = null;
+    StringBuffer sb = null;
     for (int i = 0, e = s.length(); i < e; ++i) {
       char c = s.charAt(i);
       if (c < 0x20 || c > 0x7e) {
         if (sb == null) {
-          sb = new StringBuilder();
+          sb = new StringBuffer();
           sb.append(s.substring(0, i));
         }
         sb.append("\\u");
diff --git a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/BasicPeriodFormatter.java b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/BasicPeriodFormatter.java
index cbd7de73cea..5551c03a9e6 100644
--- a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/BasicPeriodFormatter.java
+++ b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/BasicPeriodFormatter.java
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ class BasicPeriodFormatter implements PeriodFormatter {
       }
     }
 
-    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+    StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
 
     // if we've been requested to not display a limit, or there are
     // no non-zero units, do not display the limit.
diff --git a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/impl/PeriodFormatterData.java b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/impl/PeriodFormatterData.java
index d91ac933d59..7a26bc5de30 100644
--- a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/impl/PeriodFormatterData.java
+++ b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/impl/PeriodFormatterData.java
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ public class PeriodFormatterData {
    * @param sb the string builder to which to append the text
    * @return true if a following digit will require a digit prefix
    */
-  public boolean appendPrefix(int tl, int td, StringBuilder sb) {
+  public boolean appendPrefix(int tl, int td, StringBuffer sb) {
     if (dr.scopeData != null) {
       int ix = tl * 3 + td;
       ScopeData sd = dr.scopeData[ix];
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ public class PeriodFormatterData {
    * @param td how and whether to display the time direction
    * @param sb the string builder to which to append the text
    */
-  public void appendSuffix(int tl, int td, StringBuilder sb) {
+  public void appendSuffix(int tl, int td, StringBuffer sb) {
     if (dr.scopeData != null) {
       int ix = tl * 3 + td;
       ScopeData sd = dr.scopeData[ix];
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ public class PeriodFormatterData {
                             int uv, boolean useCountSep, 
                             boolean useDigitPrefix, boolean multiple, 
                             boolean last, boolean wasSkipped, 
-                            StringBuilder sb) {
+                            StringBuffer sb) {
     int px = unit.ordinal();
 
     boolean willRequireSkipMarker = false;
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@ public class PeriodFormatterData {
   public int appendCount(TimeUnit unit, boolean omitCount, 
                          boolean useDigitPrefix, 
                          int count, int cv, boolean useSep, 
-                         String name, boolean last, StringBuilder sb) {
+                         String name, boolean last, StringBuffer sb) {
     if (cv == ECountVariant.HALF_FRACTION && dr.halves == null) {
       cv = ECountVariant.INTEGER;
     }
@@ -390,7 +390,7 @@ public class PeriodFormatterData {
    * @param sb the string builder to which to append the text
    */
   public void appendCountValue(int count, int integralDigits, 
-                               int decimalDigits, StringBuilder sb) {
+                               int decimalDigits, StringBuffer sb) {
     int ival = count / 1000;
     if (decimalDigits == 0) {
       appendInteger(ival, integralDigits, 10, sb);
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ public class PeriodFormatterData {
   }
 
   public void appendInteger(int num, int mindigits, int maxdigits, 
-                            StringBuilder sb) {
+                            StringBuffer sb) {
     if (dr.numberNames != null && num < dr.numberNames.length) {
       String name = dr.numberNames[num];
       if (name != null) {
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@ public class PeriodFormatterData {
    * @param sb the string builder to which to append the text
    */
   public void appendDigits(long num, int mindigits, int maxdigits,  
-                           StringBuilder sb) {
+                           StringBuffer sb) {
     char[] buf = new char[maxdigits];
     int ix = maxdigits;
     while (ix > 0 && num > 0) {
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ public class PeriodFormatterData {
    * Append a marker for skipped units internal to a string.
    * @param sb the string builder to which to append the text
    */
-  public void appendSkippedUnit(StringBuilder sb) {
+  public void appendSkippedUnit(StringBuffer sb) {
     if (dr.skippedUnitMarker != null) {
       sb.append(dr.skippedUnitMarker);
     }
@@ -484,7 +484,7 @@ public class PeriodFormatterData {
    */
   public boolean appendUnitSeparator(TimeUnit unit, boolean longSep, 
                                      boolean afterFirst, boolean beforeLast, 
-                                     StringBuilder sb) {
+                                     StringBuffer sb) {
     // long seps
     // false, false "...b', '...d"
     // false, true  "...', and 'c"
diff --git a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/impl/XMLRecordReader.java b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/impl/XMLRecordReader.java
index a51bbda77dd..2b837cf70dc 100644
--- a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/impl/XMLRecordReader.java
+++ b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/impl/XMLRecordReader.java
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ import java.io.Reader;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import com.ibm.icu.lang.UCharacter;
+
 public class XMLRecordReader implements RecordReader {
   private Reader r;
   private List nameStack;
@@ -188,7 +190,7 @@ public class XMLRecordReader implements RecordReader {
   }
 
   private String readData() {
-    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+    StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
     boolean inWhitespace = false;
     boolean inAmp = false;
     while (true) {
@@ -200,7 +202,7 @@ public class XMLRecordReader implements RecordReader {
       if (c == '&') {
         c = readChar();
         if (c == '#') {
-          StringBuilder numBuf = new StringBuilder();
+          StringBuffer numBuf = new StringBuffer();
           int radix = 10;
           c = readChar();
           if (c == 'x') {
@@ -219,7 +221,7 @@ public class XMLRecordReader implements RecordReader {
             throw ex;
           }
         } else {
-          StringBuilder charBuf = new StringBuilder();
+          StringBuffer charBuf = new StringBuffer();
           while (c != ';' && c != -1) {
             charBuf.append((char)c);
             c = readChar();
@@ -243,7 +245,7 @@ public class XMLRecordReader implements RecordReader {
         }
       }
             
-      if (Character.isWhitespace(c)) {
+      if (UCharacter.isWhitespace(c)) {
         if (inWhitespace) {
           continue;
         }
@@ -268,7 +270,7 @@ public class XMLRecordReader implements RecordReader {
         }
         break;
       }
-      if (!Character.isWhitespace(c)) {
+      if (!UCharacter.isWhitespace(c)) {
         System.err.println("Unexpected non-whitespace character " + 
                            Integer.toHexString(c));
         break;
@@ -277,7 +279,7 @@ public class XMLRecordReader implements RecordReader {
 
     if (atTag) {
       atTag = false;
-      StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+      StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
       while (true) {
         c = readChar();
         if (c == '>' || c == -1) {
diff --git a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/impl/XMLRecordWriter.java b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/impl/XMLRecordWriter.java
index 64f7818e286..02f38000f06 100644
--- a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/impl/XMLRecordWriter.java
+++ b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/impl/duration/impl/XMLRecordWriter.java
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ import java.io.Writer;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import com.ibm.icu.lang.UCharacter;
+
 public class XMLRecordWriter implements RecordWriter {
   private Writer w;
   private List nameStack;
@@ -117,15 +119,15 @@ public class XMLRecordWriter implements RecordWriter {
     if (str == null) {
       return null;
     }
-    StringBuilder sb = null;
+    StringBuffer sb = null;
     boolean inWhitespace = false;
     char c = '\0';
     boolean special = false;
     for (int i = 0; i < str.length(); ++i) {
       c = str.charAt(i);
-      if (Character.isWhitespace(c)) {
+      if (UCharacter.isWhitespace(c)) {
         if (sb == null && (inWhitespace || c != ' ')) {
-          sb = new StringBuilder(str.substring(0, i));
+          sb = new StringBuffer(str.substring(0, i));
         }
         if (inWhitespace) {
           continue;
@@ -137,7 +139,7 @@ public class XMLRecordWriter implements RecordWriter {
         inWhitespace = false;
         special = c == '<' || c == '&';
         if (special && sb == null) {
-          sb = new StringBuilder(str.substring(0, i));
+          sb = new StringBuffer(str.substring(0, i));
         }
       }
       if (sb != null) {