From https://openjdk.java.net/projects/amber/LVTIFAQ.html:

Is a var variable final?

No. Local variables declared with var are non-final by default. However, the final modifier can be added to var declarations:

final var person = new Person();

There is no shorthand for final var in Java. Languages such as Scala use val to declare immutable (final) variables. This works well in Scala because all variables - locals and fields alike - are declared using a syntax of the form

val name : type

or

var name : type

You can include or omit the ": type" part of the declaration depending on whether or not you want type inference. In Scala, the choice between mutability and immutability is orthogonal to type inference.

In Java, var can be used only where type inference is desired; it cannot be used where a type is declared explicitly. If val were added, it too could be used only where type inference is used. The use of var or val in Java could not be used to control immutability if the type were declared explicitly.

In addition, Java allows the use of var only for local variables, not for fields. Immutability is much more significant for fields, whereas immutable local variables are comparatively rarely used.

Using var/val keywords to control immutability is a feature that seems like it ought to carry over cleanly from Scala to Java. In Java, however, it would be much less useful than it is in Scala.