I would definitely recommend learning Java. I think the language is quite fun to code in, even if I miss some very nice facilities from Perl (can we say foreach). It can be used to make some pretty clean code, and just sort of feels good. It will definitely help you in your Perl journey. For example, it actually showed me what OO techniques are good for, and motivated me to learn OO in Perl. I am very grateful for this. :)

I learned Java in a very similar situation, though not quite as voluntary as yours. A new boss was coming in, and word was he wanted to use Java everywhere. Being the industrious worker bee that I am, I learned Java before he got there. To my surprise, I actually began to like the language, despite its stigma. You might find yourself feeling the same.