diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 1261f3877a5..09a53a6c9be 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ matrix:
     - $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/ci/travis_before_script_cpp.sh
     script:
     - $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/ci/travis_script_cpp.sh || travis_terminate 1
-    - $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/ci/travis_script_gandiva_java.sh || travis_terminate 1
+    # - $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/ci/travis_script_gandiva_java.sh || travis_terminate 1
     - $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/ci/travis_upload_cpp_coverage.sh || travis_terminate 1
   - name: "Python 3.6 unit tests w/ Valgrind, conda-forge toolchain, coverage"
     compiler: gcc
diff --git a/java/performance/pom.xml b/java/performance/pom.xml
index 43388b20102..6dc7bde2c22 100644
--- a/java/performance/pom.xml
+++ b/java/performance/pom.xml
@@ -144,11 +144,10 @@
                 </plugin>
                 <plugin>
                     <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
-                    <version>2.17</version>
+                    <version>3.0.0-M3</version>
                 </plugin>
             </plugins>
         </pluginManagement>
     </build>
 
 </project>
-
diff --git a/java/pom.xml b/java/pom.xml
index 78c0aac0f8a..dee4c2d160b 100644
--- a/java/pom.xml
+++ b/java/pom.xml
@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@
         </plugin>
         <plugin>
           <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
-          <version>2.20</version>
+          <version>3.0.0-M3</version>
           <configuration>
             <enableAssertions>true</enableAssertions>
             <childDelegation>true</childDelegation>
@@ -397,6 +397,8 @@
             <systemPropertyVariables>
               <java.io.tmpdir>${project.build.directory}</java.io.tmpdir>
               <io.netty.tryReflectionSetAccessible>true</io.netty.tryReflectionSetAccessible>
+              <arrow.vector.max_allocation_bytes>1048576</arrow.vector.max_allocation_bytes>
+              <user.timezone>UTC</user.timezone>
             </systemPropertyVariables>
             <!-- Note: changing the below configuration might increase the max allocation size for a vector
             which in turn can cause OOM. -->
@@ -501,10 +503,10 @@
 
   <dependencyManagement>
     <dependencies>
-      <dependency>	
-        <groupId>com.google.flatbuffers</groupId>	
-        <artifactId>flatbuffers-java</artifactId>	
-        <version>${dep.fbs.version}</version>	
+      <dependency>
+        <groupId>com.google.flatbuffers</groupId>
+        <artifactId>flatbuffers-java</artifactId>
+        <version>${dep.fbs.version}</version>
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>com.google.guava</groupId>
diff --git a/java/tools/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/tools/TestIntegration.java b/java/tools/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/tools/TestIntegration.java
index 6f14a15f83f..caa7aacc611 100644
--- a/java/tools/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/tools/TestIntegration.java
+++ b/java/tools/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/tools/TestIntegration.java
@@ -152,7 +152,10 @@ public void testValid() throws Exception {
 
   @Test
   public void testJSONRoundTripWithVariableWidth() throws Exception {
-    File testJSONFile = new File("../../integration/data/simple.json");
+    File testJSONFile = new File("../../integration/data/simple.json").getCanonicalFile();
+    if (!testJSONFile.exists()) {
+      testJSONFile = new File("../integration/data/simple.json");
+    }
     File testOutFile = testFolder.newFile("testOut.arrow");
     File testRoundTripJSONFile = testFolder.newFile("testOut.json");
     testOutFile.delete();
@@ -183,7 +186,10 @@ public void testJSONRoundTripWithVariableWidth() throws Exception {
 
   @Test
   public void testJSONRoundTripWithStruct() throws Exception {
-    File testJSONFile = new File("../../integration/data/struct_example.json");
+    File testJSONFile = new File("../../integration/data/struct_example.json").getCanonicalFile();
+    if (!testJSONFile.exists()) {
+      testJSONFile = new File("../integration/data/struct_example.json");
+    }
     File testOutFile = testFolder.newFile("testOutStruct.arrow");
     File testRoundTripJSONFile = testFolder.newFile("testOutStruct.json");
     testOutFile.delete();
@@ -213,7 +219,7 @@ public void testJSONRoundTripWithStruct() throws Exception {
   }
 
   private BufferedReader readNormalized(File f) throws IOException {
-    Map<?, ?> tree = om.readValue(f, Map.class);
+    Map<?, ?> tree = om.readValue(f.getCanonicalFile(), Map.class);
     String normalized = om.writeValueAsString(tree);
     return new BufferedReader(new StringReader(normalized));
   }
diff --git a/java/vector/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/vector/ipc/TestJSONFile.java b/java/vector/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/vector/ipc/TestJSONFile.java
index 467d40cc410..061ccf6ef2b 100644
--- a/java/vector/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/vector/ipc/TestJSONFile.java
+++ b/java/vector/src/test/java/org/apache/arrow/vector/ipc/TestJSONFile.java
@@ -330,6 +330,9 @@ public void testWriteReadDecimalJSON() throws IOException {
   @Test
   public void testSetStructLength() throws IOException {
     File file = new File("../../integration/data/struct_example.json");
+    if (!file.exists()) {
+      file = new File("../integration/data/struct_example.json");
+    }
     try (
         BufferAllocator readerAllocator = allocator.newChildAllocator("reader", 0, Integer.MAX_VALUE);
     ) {