I have to admit I'm not hip to all the newfangled doings with alternative Clojure targets. To me though java interop is one of the core differentiators for Cloj

I have to admit I'm not hip to all the newfangled doings with alternative Clojure targets. To me though java interop is one of the core differentiators for Clojure from other langs aside from its lispness. But, you're right, it's not required.