Index: src/org/python/core/PyString.java
===================================================================
--- src/org/python/core/PyString.java	(revision 3142)
+++ src/org/python/core/PyString.java	(working copy)
@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@
 
             public PyObject __call__(PyObject arg0,PyObject arg1) {
                 try {
-                    return new PyString(((PyString)self).str_decode(arg0.asString(0),arg1.asString(1)));
+                    return new PyUnicode(((PyString)self).str_decode(arg0.asString(0),arg1.asString(1)));
                 } catch (PyObject.ConversionException e) {
                     String msg;
                     switch (e.index) {
@@ -390,7 +390,7 @@
 
             public PyObject __call__(PyObject arg0) {
                 try {
-                    return new PyString(((PyString)self).str_decode(arg0.asString(0)));
+                    return new PyUnicode(((PyString)self).str_decode(arg0.asString(0)));
                 } catch (PyObject.ConversionException e) {
                     String msg;
                     switch (e.index) {
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@
             }
 
             public PyObject __call__() {
-                return new PyString(((PyString)self).str_decode());
+                return new PyUnicode(((PyString)self).str_decode());
             }
 
         }
Index: src/org/python/core/PyUnicode.java
===================================================================
--- src/org/python/core/PyUnicode.java	(revision 3142)
+++ src/org/python/core/PyUnicode.java	(working copy)
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@
 
             public PyObject __call__(PyObject arg0,PyObject arg1) {
                 try {
-                    return new PyUnicode(((PyUnicode)self).unicode_encode(arg0.asString(0),arg1.asString(1)));
+                    return new PyString(((PyUnicode)self).unicode_encode(arg0.asString(0),arg1.asString(1)));
                 } catch (PyObject.ConversionException e) {
                     String msg;
                     switch (e.index) {
@@ -426,7 +426,7 @@
 
             public PyObject __call__(PyObject arg0) {
                 try {
-                    return new PyUnicode(((PyUnicode)self).unicode_encode(arg0.asString(0)));
+                    return new PyString(((PyUnicode)self).unicode_encode(arg0.asString(0)));
                 } catch (PyObject.ConversionException e) {
                     String msg;
                     switch (e.index) {
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@
             }
 
             public PyObject __call__() {
-                return new PyUnicode(((PyUnicode)self).unicode_encode());
+                return new PyString(((PyUnicode)self).unicode_encode());
             }
 
         }
@@ -1513,6 +1513,10 @@
         return str___unicode__();
     }
 
+    public PyString __str__() {
+        return unicode___str__();
+    }
+
     public PyString unicode___str__() {
         return new PyString(toString());
     }
Index: src/templates/unicode.expose
===================================================================
--- src/templates/unicode.expose	(revision 3142)
+++ src/templates/unicode.expose	(working copy)
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 expose_meth: :u center i
 expose_meth: :i count s i? i?
 expose_meth: :u decode s? s?
-expose_meth: :u encode s? s?
+expose_meth: :s encode s? s?
 expose_meth: :b endswith s i? i?
 expose_meth: :u expandtabs i?
 expose_meth: :i find s i? i?
Index: src/templates/str.expose
===================================================================
--- src/templates/str.expose	(revision 3142)
+++ src/templates/str.expose	(working copy)
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 expose_meth: :s capitalize
 expose_meth: :s center i
 expose_meth: :i count s i? i?
-expose_meth: :s decode s? s?
+expose_meth: :u decode s? s?
 expose_meth: :s encode s? s?
 expose_meth: :b endswith s i? i?
 expose_meth: :s expandtabs i?
Index: Lib/test/test_unicode.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_unicode.py	(revision 3142)
+++ Lib/test/test_unicode.py	(working copy)
@@ -485,6 +485,10 @@
 verify('%i%s %*.*s' % (10, 3, 5,3,u'abc',) == u'103   abc')
 print 'done.'
 
+print 'Testing builtin str()...',
+verify(str(u"") == "")
+verify(isinstance(str(u""), str))
+
 print 'Testing builtin unicode()...',
 
 # unicode(obj) tests (this maps to PyObject_Unicode() at C level)
@@ -584,9 +588,8 @@
 # UTF-8 specific encoding tests:
 verify(u''.encode('utf-8') == '')
 verify(u'\u20ac'.encode('utf-8') == '\xe2\x82\xac')
-#XXX: ?
-if not sys.platform.startswith('java'):
-    verify(u'\ud800\udc02'.encode('utf-8') == '\xf0\x90\x80\x82')
+verify(u'\ud800\udc02'.encode('utf-8') == '\xf0\x90\x80\x82')
+verify(isinstance(u'\ud800\udc02'.encode('utf-8'), str))
 verify(u'\ud84d\udc56'.encode('utf-8') == '\xf0\xa3\x91\x96')
 #XXX: ?
 if not sys.platform.startswith('java'):
@@ -655,15 +658,14 @@
 verify(unicode('Andr\202 x','ascii','ignore') == u"Andr x")
 verify(unicode('Andr\202 x','ascii','replace') == u'Andr\uFFFD x')
 
-# XXX: ?
-if not sys.platform.startswith('java'):
-    verify("\\N{foo}xx".decode("unicode-escape", "ignore") == u"xx")
-    try:
-        "\\".decode("unicode-escape")
-    except ValueError:
-        pass
-    else:
-        raise TestFailed, '"\\".decode("unicode-escape") should fail'
+verify("\\N{foo}xx".decode("unicode-escape", "ignore") == u"xx")
+verify(isinstance("\\N{foo}xx".decode("unicode-escape", "ignore"), unicode))
+try:
+    "\\".decode("unicode-escape")
+except ValueError:
+    pass
+else:
+    raise TestFailed, '"\\".decode("unicode-escape") should fail'
 
 verify(u'hello'.encode('ascii') == 'hello')
 # XXX: Jython does not support utf-7 yet.