diff --git a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/text/DateTimePatternGenerator.java b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/text/DateTimePatternGenerator.java
index 95c0147a83..c5d04095c3 100644
--- a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/text/DateTimePatternGenerator.java
+++ b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/text/DateTimePatternGenerator.java
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ public class DateTimePatternGenerator implements Freezable, Cloneable {
         }
         // if skeleton contains meta hour field 'j', then
         // replace it with the default hour format char
-        skeleton = Utility.replaceAll(skeleton, "j", Character.toString(defaultHourFormatChar));
+        skeleton = Utility.replaceAll(skeleton, "j", String.valueOf(defaultHourFormatChar));
 
         current.set(skeleton, fp);
         String best = getBestRaw(current, -1, _distanceInfo);