Python Integration with Java / C
gcj (gcc compiler for java) supports java 1.5 syntax (1.4 is working better on it) and therefore some Java programs may be compiled to native code. gcjh (or javah) can produce headers for java libraries, so you can write C extensions for python. Of course some libraries could not be compiled with gcj (like Apache Commons Logging) because of using com.sun packages. Did not updated from 2009.
There is another Java to native compiler, commercial Excelsior Jet (it's another JavaVM, it supports Java 1.6 and soon Java 1.7). They said linux-64bit version of their product will be available in 2013-Q4. But I didn't try it well, I don't know, are headers for compiled library can be produced.
There is a lot packages at pypi, like JCC (from PyLucene creator) or Py4J that can use Oracle JavaVM through JNI or sockets.
I implemented most of my projects in C++ and python. However, we recently got a new database interface that I could only use Java to retrieve data. 
I want to stay with my Python/C++ tools but I am wondering if there is a good solution to integrate Java to my Python application. I heard about Jython, but it is a different python implementation and I am concerned some of my C++ tools will not work well with it. Jpype seems simple but it hasn't been updated since 2011, so a little concerned with the compatiablity with the current python/java.
Is there a good solution to this? all opinions are welcomed.