Java SE 6 provides new i18n support in 6 major areas. It's way too much for the standard blog entry, but you can read the full-length article International Enhancements in Java SE 6 to find out how you benefit from these:

• resource control and access -- you get more control over how resource bundles are loaded, their file formats, etc
• locale-sensitive services -- add your own locale info, or use data from elsewhere like the CLDR
• text normalization -- we know what that is, right?
• international domain names -- really, you can do that?
• Japanese calendars -- some smarty pants will comment that this is a long overdue update, but hey, I'm just reporting this, I don' t create it anymore.
• and a dozen new locales