Question: I'm trying to learn about how does Java access smart cards, due to a project analysis. I wonder if there is any kind of virtual smart card which I could use to make some tests with Java?

By the way, I've read about Java Card, and looks like it is used to run Java in cards, not to smart card data access using Java, right?

Answer: 
You can get a virtual smartcard (and a virtual reader) here: <http://sourceforge.net/projects/vsmartcard/>
If you need to emulate JavaCard try to use jCardSim: <http://jcardsim.org>. 
It also supports access via javax.smartcardio API and apdu-scripts.